Energy
by Energybeing
Summary: Buffy the Vampire Slayer... with a brand new character! Season 1 rewrite. The Powers that Be have sent help to Sunnydale for the Slayer and her gang, a new romance is budding, tensions are running high... Eventual Willow/OC
1. Chapter 1

This story begins just after the events in 'The Harvest' (S1,E2)

The Powers that Be, with their knowledge of the future, have seen that the level of evil to be found in Sunnydale is too great for even a Slayer to face. So they sent help. One might call it a gift from God...

There's nothing quite like starting the day by beating up your Watcher. Especially when he asks for it.

"Today, Buffy, I'm going to teach you how to use the quarterstaff" says Giles, in his most ceremonious fashion, as he hands me... a stick.

"A stick? Why can't we ever do something cool, like the crossbow?" I whine.

''Buffy, a quarterstaff is perhaps, besides the stake, the most trustworthy and useful weapon there is. One may find, as you so astutely noticed, 'A stick' anywhere. However, learning how to wield 'a stick' properly may take many hours and many bruises, as I have found from experience.''

I nod, tired of all this talking. Maybe after I knock him to the floor we get to move onto the crossbow.

He swings at my head, I block, he swings at my body, I block, then, getting bored, I sweep his feet from under him and hold the end of my 'stick' against his neck.

I hear a slow clap come from behind me, and with a whirl I point my quarterstaff at...

a boy. Tall, brown eyes and brown hair, not overly handsome but with such animated features that he looks not hot in the classical sense, but more attractive and friendly. Utterly unlike Angel, with his deadpan but oh-so-handsome face.

''Not bad, not bad'' he says, seemingly unperturbed by the quarterstaff pointed at his stomach. He speaks with an odd accent I can't quite place, and the intonation of someone who didn't learn English as his first language.

''Not bad!'' I repeat indignantly. ''Not bad! I took him down in three moves.''

''Well, yes'' the boy acknowledges with a nod ''But he didn't have the speed or strength to stop you. I'd say he hasn't touched a quarterstaff for several years now. And as for you, you were just careless. Never leave a weapon in an enemies hand, or they will use it against you."

What a cocky little- "Think you can do better?''I ask. I'm suddenly burning to take down this newcomer.

His face cracks into a large, mischievous grin, lighting a sparkle in his hitherto serious eyes. "I thought you'd never ask." he begins, a smile in his eyes. ''Not only do I think I can do better, I think I could take you both on at the same time, and win without a blow landing on me. However, I want something if I win."

''What?'' says Giles, finally getting to his feet after watching the interplay from the ground. I echo him, suspicious about the boy's intentions.

''I want to teach you. I don't care why you need to learn how to use a quarterstaff, or a crossbow, or a stake, but obviously you do, and with floor-man teaching you, I doubt you'll ever get anywhere. So, I want to teach you. Call it my good deed of the year.''

I suddenly realize that I don't know who this boy is. For all I know, he may be a vampire, or some other mystical or demonic thingy. I'm not good with the names of all these things, they're inevitably long and complicated. Then I wonder why this sort of useless thinking passes through my brain at times like this. Then I focus again.

''Who are you?'' I ask.

He seems taken aback, almost shocked. For the first time since I saw him, he seems nothing more than any other school boy. However, he quickly recovers his composure. ''Me? I'm just the new boy. I'll tell you more after the fight. That is, if your not too scared.'' His mouth curled into a contemptuous half-smile as he says this, taunting me.

Getting bored with all the chat, I toss him a quarterstaff, which he easily snatches from the air with a surprising swift movement. Maybe he's not just cocky after all. Giles and I back off to the other side of the room.

''If you're disarmed, you lose.'' he calls.

Giles and I advance spreading out from different sides, cautiously getting nearer. He just stands there, leaning on his staff, an insolent half-smile on hs face. Suddenly, in a blur of motion, he lunges at Giles, catching him on the shoulder, making him, with a cry of pain, drop his staff. With disconcerting speed he stoops, grabs Giles' staff, turns and throws it at me like a javelin. I knock it aside with my own, only to have a sudden searing pain in my shoulder as he disarms me with the same move that disarmed Giles.

Dear God, this boy is quick!

''Ok, Ok, you won. Now you get to teach me. First, tell me who you are.''

''Su-'' says mysterious boy, before being interrupted by the bell. ''Damn!'' he says in his foreign accent. ''Umm... I don't suppose... would you...'' he stammers, all his confidence and self-assurance suddenly gone.

''Out with it! I've got a French class to get to.'' I say impatiently.

''Me too. Could you show me the way?"

_I know the spacing's a little kooky. It gets better_


	2. Chapter 2

"What?'' I say, incredulously. ''Who are you? You can't just show up, thrash Giles and I in a fight without breaking a sweat, become my quarterstaff teacher, and then ask me to take you to French without telling me anything about you.''

In the midst of my tirade, the boy sighs and leans on his staff again, while he patiently awaits my pause for breath. When it arrives, he quickly begins with "Alright then. My name is Theo, I'm English, Like Mr. Librarian here, I just moved to Sunnydale, I'm in your year, and I like hitting people with sticks. Is that enough to be getting on with? I'll tell you more on the way to French.'' He says this in such a dry manner that I feel as though he must be making fun of me, but is too polite to do it overtly.

I'm sure that this boy is hiding something, but I'm not sure what. He certainly doesn't sound English...

As though he were reading my mind the boy - Theo - says ''Oh, and in case you were wondering, my first language isn't English. It's Greek. My full name, Theodore, is Greek for-''

''Gift from god. I know. Now, if you please, I have a library to run, and you have a lesson to get to.'' says Giles, irritably. As I walk over to retrieve my school bag, he hisses in my ear ''I don't think he's all that he seems. Keep an eye on him.'' I nod.

Just as I leave the library, Willow scurries up to me, in that ''Don't pick on me, I'm just a helpless geek'' way that she has. Sometimes I wish she'd stand up for herself just a little more.

''Buffy! How was training? Oh!'' This last comment was directed to Theo, who had followed me. ''Who's he?'' whispers Willow in a voice that could probably be heard halfway down the hall. Sometimes, Willow just doesn't get secrecy.

''Willow, this is Theo. He's new here. Theo, this is Willow, my best friend.'' I introduce them, with some impatience creeping into my voice. Will we ever get to class?

''Willow?'' says Theo, with some surprise in his voice. ''Willow Rosenberg?''

Now it was our turn to be surprised - indeed, Willow was so surprised that her mouth nearly dropped open. She tends to overreact to things. It's kind of cute.

''Ho-How do you know who I am?'' Willow stutters.

''Principal Flutie told me that you would be the person to speak to if I wanted to catch up on my subjects. I'm told that your something of a genius, and I'd do well to follow your example. In fact, you're the reason I was in the library in the first place. I was told you might be there.'' says Theo.

''Wow'' replies Willow, clearly flattered. ''Ummm, how can I help?'' she questions.

''Well, if I could borrow your subject notes, that would be all I need. In fact, I'd only need them for one night-I'm a quick reader'' he replies smoothly. I notice that his eyes never leave Willow's face.

''One night? But I have a lot of notes. Not that I have them here, my notes are at home. You cant come to my home, I don't even know you. No notes for you till tomorrow.'' babbled Willow, doing that adorable thing where she just says everything that passes through her head. I'm so glad I don't do that, especially around Angel. He'd think I was mad. Not that I care what he thinks...

Theo's mouth twists into smile, and once again I'm taken aback by how different he is to Angel. Theo's smile is infectious and makes his eyes sparkle, but Angel's is a thing to be treasured, a precious, heart-warming ornament.

''Don't worry Willow, I have no intention of going to your house. If you could bring them tomorrow, that would be all I need.'' Just a hint of a laugh crept into his voice as he spoke. ''And now, to French!'' he announced grandly. ''Lead on!''

''Buffy, Willow, you're late!'' said Miss. Pierre, our very own French French teacher. ''May I trouble you to think of an excuse? Oh!'' It seems that no one can see Theo without some exclamation or feeling of surprise.

Then, suddenly, from out of Theo's mouth flows a stream of perfect French, of which I managed to understand precisely nothing, and which lead me once again to wonder who exactly this boy might be. A brilliant user of a quarterstaff, speaks at least three languages fluently, unnaturally quick, and says he can read through Willow's enormous store of notes in only one night! These do not seem like the abilities of a human.

Suddenly, I was awoken from my reverie by Theo leaving the class.

'W'hat just happened?'' I blurt out, startled.

Miss. Pierre gives me a withering look. ''I hope one day, that you will gain the same aptitude for French as that charming young man. However, I'd settle for you being as good as Willow, who at least understood some of what was said.'' she says, scathingly. I think she dislikes me for skipping her class so often.

''Yes Miss, whatever you say Miss, but why did he leave Miss?'' I ask, trying to get the level of toadying just right so that I can get an answer.

''What would be the point in speaking a French-speaker French? He speaks it at least as well as I do. Now, get to your seats - then maybe we can actually start the lesson.'' I still don't think she likes me.

When we get to our seats, Willow leans over and whispers inquiringly ''Who is that guy? He seems so... different.''

''Yes, I know. In fact, I'm not even sure he's human. He saw Giles and I training, then challenged us both to a fight with quarterstaffs and utterly destroyed us in about thirty seconds. Then he offered to be my weapons teacher.''

''He beat you?'' says Willow, incredulously. ''Isn't that supposed to be immpossible, what with you being the Slayer and all?''

''I know. He's just so fast, that neither of us even had a chance to attack, let alone stop his. But sometimes, like when the bell rang and he asked me to take him here, he just seemed like an ordinary boy.''

''Oh!'' Willow exclaims ''I almost forgot why I was looking for you, what with all the new-boy oddness. Someone died in a landslide.''

''A landslide?'' I question. ''Surely that is nothing supernatural?''

''It is, when the landslide happened three miles from the nearest thing you can get a landslide from. What do you get landslides from? A hill? Anyway, the body beneath the rubble is nothing but a skeleton now.''

This is more like it! No more mysterious school boys, just some strange killings. Even though I know I shouldn't, I cant help but smile. It's good when I have something to do. ''Well, gang, it looks like we have a mystery on our hands.'


	3. Chapter 3

After two hours of hearing Miss. Pierre droning on about conjugations and irregular verbs, we finally get to escape. If one can call going to the library to find out what new terror has arisen in Sunnydale a break. But hey, I always look on the bright side.

When Willow and I get to the library, we look around to see if anyone is there. Many is the time that my Slaying has nearly been made public by not noticing students amongst the book cases. Fortunately, not many people dare enter in the realm of books and learning, so we are generally safe from prying eyes. All we see is the common sight of Giles poring over an old tome, no doubt a book of prophecies or spells. Sometimes I wonder what Giles was like when he was younger. After all, surely no-one can be born that stuffy. Other times, I think that Giles was.

"Giles!" I call "We've got a job for you!"

He jumps. Generally, when he doesn't even hear you come in, it means either "Apocalypse" or "I was dozing". I hope he was just dozing - it's apocalypse too much around here.

"Yes? What is it?" He lets out a massive yawn, and rubs his eyes. Definitely dozing.

Willow answers, telling him everything she told me.

"Oh, that's bad. Very bad. I really, really hope that I'm wrong, but it sounds like a golem." said Giles. Just once, I wish he wouldn't be all doom and gloom about everything.

Willow looks surprised "A golem? You mean as in man of clay, like the one made by the Rabbi in Prague?" How come she always knows everthing? I guess that's what happens when you study. Maybe I should try it. If I ever have the time. Giles nodded. "But they were harmless, just servants made from earth. They couldn't kill anyone, unless ordered to."

"Unfortunately, a real golem is rather more than that. A golem is the earth made flesh, and quite simply, cannot be stopped, or killed, or even slowed down, until it's goal is achieved." replied Giles, again piling on the doom and gloom.

"What's it's goal?" I ask, in an attempt to steer the conversation away from all the depressing talk. Maybe it just wants to collect puppies or something. Creatures of evil generally do...

'Utter destruction. A golem must kill thirteen people, in the manner Willow has described. when it has done so, the entire area aroud it will be completely destroyed. I'm afraid to say, Sunnydale is doomed, unless I can find-'

"Hey guys! What's going on? Any monsters or creepy crawlies on the prowl?" says Xander, as he bursts into the library. As usual, Willow's face lights up at the sight of her beloved. If only he wasn't so fixated on me, he could have a charming and intelligent girlfriend in flash. This romantic business is such as drag sometimes. Why did Angel suddenly pop into my head when I thought that?

Giles, in his gravest and most English manner, fills Xander in on the latest Sunnydale monstrosity.

Xander, in his typically light hearted and clownish way, says "Just another day in Sunnydale, then!" I couldn't help but snort with laughter. Xander has even more trouble being serious than I do. "How are going to find a way to stop it?" he asks, more seriously. Giles' face lights up, and and I know exactly what he's going to say. In unison, we declare "Research!", him exultantly, and me resignedly. I knew it would come to that sooner or later. It always does. With that, our break ended, and we left Giles to his books.

Later that day, after our classes had ended, we reunited in the library, to find out what Giles had found out.

"Well, Giles" I ask, as I come in "What fascinating and, no doubt, depressing, news do you have for us now?"

"If you would be serious for just one moment, I would gladly te-"

At that very moment, Giles was interrupted by a loud thump, followed by someone flying backwards though the library doors, and landing in a crumpled heap over by the opposite wall. Before we had even time to be shocked, the doors themselves were blown of their hinges, and a large hulking humanoid made from dirt and pebbles entered the room.

"Golem! Run!" cried Giles.

The others spared no time in making their escape, and I paused only long enough to scoop up the body of the person the golem had made aerial. For some reason, I wasn't surprised to see that it was Theo.

I slung him over my shoulder and ran as fast as I was able after my friends. Once we were outside, I laid him on the ground and looked around for our earthy assailant. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, I know that guy!" says Xander, upon seeing the body. "He came to my Physics class this morning. Said he wanted some wire and a battery." I stooped to check his pulse. Unconscious, not dead. Despite the fact he'd just been thrown a good ten feet or so. Who is he?

"Perhaps now you could finish your fascinating tale, Giles?" I ask, somewhat flippantly. I'm not good at seriousness when there is no immediate danger to be seen.

With a reproachful look at me, Giles launched into his history of golems "In every account I found, the story was the same. Thirteen died in thirteen days, in landslides that could have no possible natural cause, and on the fourteenth day the entire city was destroyed in a massive earthquake. Only one account varies in any way: it mentions a great storm took place, and there was no death on that day. Unfortunately, I do not-"

"Water!" interrupts Willow excitedly.

"What?" replies Giles, clearly baffled.

"A golem is made out of earth, right? So surely water would, I dunno, turn it into mud or something?"

"Genius!" exclaims Giles.

Xander, with that smile on his face that means he's about to say something ridiculous, shouts excitedly "Water pistol fight!". I couldn't help but snort with laughter.

However, now that we had an idea of how to fight this thing, there was no time for fun and jokes. I took charge, instructing Willow and Xander to get as many water bottles, buckets and water pistols as they could and bring them here. With only a pause for Xander to salute and say "Yes, Ma'am!" they left. Giles and I decided to stay here with Theo: if the golem had gone after him once, there was no reason it wouldn't do so again.

Giles, with a gesture to the unconscious body of Theo, asked me if I had found anything about 'Our mysterious schoolboy', as he termed him. I replied that I had not, besides that he spoke fluent French. I relayed to him my feelings that he wasn't entirely human.

"I have to say that, for once, I agree with you. No one has ever, could ever, survive a full-on attack by a golem, as he has. Yet look at him! Not a scratch. He's obviously not quite what he seems." replied Giles.

I was temporarily rendered speechless that Giles had agreed with me. This has got to be a first!

However, my vocal chords soon regained their power, when I saw the dark figure of the golem crossing the distance towards with a speed that belied his size. As it drew nearer, Theo began to stir slightly, and mutter something unintelligible. I, being somewhat distracted by the onset of possible death, paid him no attention.

'Damn!' I cursed, frustrated. Why do the villains always appear before the reinforcements? Willow and Xander had better get here soon..


	4. Chapter 4

It's strange to think that, only this morning, my life had been as normal as it possibly could be, but now, not even twelve hours later, the avatar of the very Earth beneath our feet was coming towards us, planning to kill someone who may or may not be human, and my only chance to save him rested in the hands of my friends and the hope they get back quickly with lots and lots of water. As the golem got nearer, Theo began to stir, muttering something like "Claum no hick bright in" or some such drivel. More concerned by the possibility of impending death, I paid no attention. The golem was three yards away.

I heard footsteps coming from behind me, and I turned and saw Willow running up behind me with the most enormous water pistol I had ever seen.

Two yards.

I saw Willow stop and take aim.

One yard.

Then, suddenly, a massive jet of water hit the golem square in the chest, and it stopped in it's tracks. Willow let out a whoop of triumph, which quickly became a shriek of terror when the golem continued forward and picked up Theo in one massive hand.

Abruptly, a deluge of water crasehed over the golem's head, and I saw that Xander had snuck up behind it and poured a bucket of water over it.

The golem drew back its other massive fist, to crush Theo's skull, when he woke up and began spluttering and rummaging in his pocket. He pulled out a small object that gleamed silver in the dying sunlight, which he pressed to the golems still-dripping head.

Instantly, armies of sparks errupted around the golem, and lines of light flowed though it. Then, without warning, there was a blinding light and some sort of projectile hit me, and I fell to the floor and hit my head. As suddenly as the blinding light had come, it was replaced by blinding darkness, and I knew no more.

Some time later, I don't know exactly how long, I woke to find myself in a white room, under fluorescent white lights. A hospital. Then I realized I had a headache that felt as though a train had been driven through my head, and was still being driven through it. I cried out in pain, and I saw my mother peering concernedly down at me. I tries to ask what had happened, but my voice was so croaky and my throat so sore that it sounded more like "Wha haps?"

"What happened? You were caught in some kind of freak electrical storm. Don't worry darling, the doctors say your only concussed and you'll be up and about in no time. There's someone here, in the bed across from you, who was nearly at the centre of the storm, and he's covered in electrical burns. They say he's lucky to be alive" So Theo, survived. With a smile on my face, I slip back into the blessed relief of unconsciousness.

I wake up again, some time later, and see that my mother had gone, but Willow, Xander and Giles had arrived, and were sitting around me. Willow and Xander were playing rock, paper, scissors, and Giles was, no surprise, reading a book.

"Hey." I say, my voice still weak. "Hey!" they all reply. "How are you?" asks Giles, tenderly. To my own surprise, I find that, besides being tired and aching, I feel good. "Nothing a long, hot bath and a good nights sleep wouldn't cure." I reply, smiling faintly. Then I remember Theo. "How's Theo?" I ask. "He was badly injured, but he is healing at a miraculous rate. He's not awake yet, but I have no doubt he soon will be. Buffy, you know it was him who put you in here? When he killed the golem, the electrical discharge blew him away, and he crashed into you." I remember, just before I blacked out, the feeling of something large and heavy crashing into me. So, that was Theo. "Do we know how he killed it?" I ask.

A voice, harsh and crackling, says from nearby "Battery" I sit up as best I can, and look over to see Theo. He's barely recognisable. His face is lobster red, with yellow burn marks oozing pus. Strangely, his hair is still all there. I see his hand on top of the coverlet, and it looks like a blackened claw. His eyes, though, still have the same gleam in them that makes him look so... alive.

I was so taken aback by his appearance, that I didn't pay any attention to what he had said, untill Giles repeated him, in a bemused voice. "Yes, a battery. It's not just rain you get in storms, you know. You also get lightning. The combination of the two, water and lightning, is what vanquished it. I had planned to do it from a distance, but it worked out well enough" He explained in his crackling, burned out voice.

"Well enough?" questions Xander incredulously. "Look at you! You nearly died, and you're telling us that it "worked out well enough?" All of us seemed to echo his feelings, apart from Theo.

"I'd much rather be burnt than dead. Wouldn't you? Anyway, I'll heal soon enough" he says complacently.

Now it was Giles' turn to voice his incredulity "Heal? Even at the rate you seem to be healing, it's impossible to have a full recovery. At best, you'll be terribly scarred for the rest of your life." That's it Giles, lay it on nice and thick. Couldn't he be a little more tactful?

Theo shook his head once, then winced at the pain. "No." He looked at me, and I understood. He wasn't quite human, which was how he survived the golem attack on him and he would heal from injuries that would have killed a normal person. "What are you?" I ask, not sure I want to know the answer.

A look passed through his eyes, too swiftly for me to see what it was, and then he spoke. "I don't know what I am. In fact, I don't even know who I am. I can remember some things from before I came here: my name, some languages, and some other things, but I can't remember anything about me. The first thing I recall is being in Flutie's office, being told about Willow. The only thing I know is, I'm supposed to be here to help someone. This morning, when I walked into the library, I knew it was you."

End of Part one


	5. Chapter 5

Have you ever noticed that adults send mixed messages? Sometimes they say, for example, 'Yes, get a hobby, it will be good for you!' and other times they will say...

"Buffy, are you mad? Lives depend on you, you are the Slayer, and you deem it wise to enslave yourself to this-this Cult?" rants Giles.

Is it any wonder that teenagers so often end up doing their own thing?

Feeling somewhat put out that my watcher had put such a damper on what would have been a nice day for me, I decide to rile him slightly. After all, he generally gets his own way, what with him being the person who always knows how to stop the upcoming apocalypse from destroying the world, so sometimes I can be forgiven for doing something my own way once in a while.

"So, you dont like cheerleading, huh?" I reply, somewhat flippantly.

Giles leans against a table, preparing himself for an argument that he knows full well he won't win. "Buffy, if you could vanquish demons, slay vampires and save the world by waving pompoms at people, believe me, I would be the first to suggest it. As it is, cheerleading will take valuable time from your slaying and your training." responds Giles.

"Speaking of training, Theo gets out of hospital today. You remember him, that mysterious person who no one seems to know who he is, and managed to thrash us both at the same time, in about thirty seconds? I'm sure with him around, my training will certainly pick up the pace with him teaching me. No offense" I add, not wanting to hurt Giles feelings.

Glaring at me in annoyance, Giles' face suddenly changes to resignation. It would seeem that he has given up on this particular battle, but I have no doubt that there will be others, between responsibility and having a little fun.

"Fine, run along. Go wave pompoms."

Willow

I was waiting for Buffy outside the gym, with Xander, when I bumped into my old friend Amy. I hadn't really seen her for a few years: her mother had basically been keeping her under lock and key. "Hi, Amy!" I call, waving to her. She looks around, then when she sees me and my frantic hand-waving walks over to us. "Following in your mom's footsteps, I see", noting her cheerleader garb. Her mom had been a cheerleader as well, and a good one. Not that I know the difference between good and bad. A strange look, almost like hatred, flashes across her face, almost too quickly to see. Just as quickly, it is gone, and I am left wondering if i had imagined it. I often do imagine things, like that time i imagined Xander and I on the beach, and he was... Then I was snapped out of my reverie by the appearance of a small blond head weaving it's way through the crowd. I wonder if all vampire slayers are small? I mean, for someone destined to fight vampires and the forces of darkness, she's really short and not at all muscly. Not that muscles are everything: sometimes a nice sense of humour and a kind smile do just as well.

When Buffy finally negotiates her way through the crowd, with only minimum cries of 'Ow, watch your elbows!' we make our way into the gym, minus Amy, who had suddenly disappeared.

Almost as soon as Xander pushes open the doors, I see him get sidetracked by some girl doing the splits, and his eyes nearly fall from his head. I wish that he would look at me like that, I thought, despairing of it ever happening. Seeking to distract myself, I turn to Buffy, and ask her how Giles took her decision.

"Need you ask? He went all English on me, telling me it will affect my training. Anyway, I've got a mysterious golem-killer to help deal with that." I nod sympathetically, then scowl as Cordelia strolls up to us, in her cheerleading outfit, looking as if she rules the world. Just because she is rich, and popular, and beautiful, and could get any boy she wanted... "Have you seen Amber?" Cordelia butts in, as usual not caring about our conversations. She gestures at splits-girl. "She thinks she's so, so, superior!' Xander looks at her witheringly, and retorts 'Yeah, and no one else does, do they, Cordelia?". She stares at him, almost incredulous that anyone would dare say anything like that to her. I can't imagine shes hears things like that often, surrounded as she is by sheep. I feel a rush of warmth to Xander. It's nice that, even though he looks at all the other girls, he doesn't look at her that way.

Just then, the gym doors swung open, and in enters Theo, all dressed in green: light green shirt, dark green jacket and lovely ocean green trousers. Having only seen him for a few minutes before he became burnt when he fought the golem, I was taken aback by his good looks, which were, of course, nothing compared to Xander's, or, for that matter, Angel's. I think what made him so striking was the way his eyes seemed to have a gleam of mischief in them, as though he was planning a great joke, and also the way he moved: each step fluid, continuing unbroken from the preceding one.

Cordelia, oppurtunistic as always, walks over to greet him. "Hey, you're Theo, right? The new guy from England?" Without even waiting for him to nod, she continues "I was wondering, seeing as how you're new here, and you probably don't know anyone, if you might want to come to this nightclub, the Bronze, tonight? Some friends of mine, and, of course, me, will be there, and it will be a great chance for you to meet the popular people. I'll even dance with you a couple of times". Dear Yahweh, I thought, look at her throwing herself at him! Theo looked at her, pure horror on his expressive face "Dance? You mean, with music, and people, and, and you? No!" He answers, in an Irish accent, which I'm sure he didn't have before. He quickly makes his escape towards us before Cordelia has the chance of getting over her shock that someone turned her down.

He quickly reaches us "Phew! That girl sure thinks a lot of herself, doesn't she? I mean, why would I want to dance with someone I've known for less than a minute?" He says, still with an Irish accent. … "Top o' the morning to ya" says Xander, in such an appalling attempt to copy his accent that he sounds almost Australian. Buffy asks him "What's with the being Irish, and the all the green?" He shrugs, answering "Hey, I dont know who I am, so I may as well be Irish and dress in green. I don't see anyone else doing it, so why shouldn't I?". Sometimes I feel like that, doing something that no on else would do, but then I realize that everyone would laugh at me for being odd. Well, they do that already, but they'd probably do it even more. I guess when you don't remember anything about who you are and you don't even know whether you're human or not makes a lot of difference about what you will and will not do.

Silence spreads throughout the gym as the head cheerleader steps up onto her podium. "First up, Amber Grove! If you're not auditioning, please leave the gym or sit down in the stands." Splits-girl makes her way to the center of the gym while everyone else moves towards the stands. As everyone gets settled, loud, repetitive music starts to play, and Theo, sitting on my left, claps his hands over his ears, but when this does't block out the noise, takes off his jacket and wraps it around his head. I guess he doesn't like this music. I can't blame him.

Amy, who had somehow reappeared and sat next to me without noticing, muttered something I didn't quite catch, but my attention was somewhat taken up by the copious amounts of smoke pouring from Amber's pompoms. "She's on fire!" I shriek, shocked. At that very moment, her hands burst into flame, and she starts screaming. Buffy quickly runs to the back of the gym to grab a banner proclaiming "Sunnydale High Cheerleading Tryouts!", but before she even had time to pull it down, Theo had already made it to her, and had wrapped his jacket around her arms, smothering the flames. He grabs the nearest girl to Amber, and asks her to take her to see a medic. He then turns, looks at us, and mouths "Library", before turning again and leaving as though nothing had happened. As soon as he left, the deathly hush that had enveloped the gym quickly dissolved into uproar: screams and shouts, murmurings and mutterings, whisperings and talkings. It looks like the occult was rearing its ugly head once more in Sunnydale


	6. Chapter 6

Giles

I was sitting in the library, drinking a cup of tea and reading a very interesting manuscript that might hold some clues about the Master's past, when suddenly Theo strides in, seeming rather agitated. I asked him what the matter was, but he didn't answer. In fact, he didn't seem to hear me, he just looked around at the shelves and the books. I was about to repeat myself when Buffy, Xander and Willow also came in, also looking agitated. Thinking that perhaps they might be forthcoming, I asked them what had happened.

"One of our cheerleaders just turned into the Human Torch." said Xander "Except she actually got burned."

I look at him in askance. "So, are you saying that you saw someone turn into a torch? A burning, human torch?" I'm guessing this is a pop reference. Xander loves making them, knowing full well I won't understand.

Before Xander can reply with with some inane quip, Buffy tells me what has happened. "Fascinating!" I cry. Seeing the astonished looks on everyone's faces, I add "In a gruesome way, of course." Willow asks "Giles, what do you think it was? She was just doing her routine and... Poof! Burning hands" I thought for a bit, pottering around my shelves as I do when thinking, when I realize where I've heard of cases similar to this one. "It sounds like spontaneous combustion. Very rare, and usually leaves behind nothing but a pile of ash." Xander responds "That's all that would have been left, if Theo hadn't made it in time."

As his name was mentioned, our resident mystery boy/unknown entity awoke from whatever place his mind had drifted to, and said in an Irish accent "Buffy would have saved her, had I not." he goes on to add "Nice place you have here, Mr. Giles." feeling somewhat bewildered not only by his accent but by his topic, I answer 'Yes, I rather like it. Oh, and you can just call me Giles.' He looks directly at me for the first time, a little smile on his face "Would you mind if I stay the night here?" feeling now utterly bewildered and lost, I ask him why.

"I don't need to sleep, you see, and also, not having a home to go to, I was wondering if I might stay here? I'm sure there are plenty of books here to while away the dark hours of the night." My bewilderment gives way to interest, and I take out the small notebook I had taken to keeping with me since I became a Watcher. I flipped to the page marked "Mystery Boy" and jotted down "Doesn't need sleep". Theo looks at me curiously, and asks me what I'm doing. "I'm writing down everything we know about you, in the hope that eventually we can find what, if not who, you are." That half smile that almost ever leaves his face grew into a full smile, and he asked "What information do you have on me thus far? And do you have any theories as to what I am?" I contemplate for a moment as to whether I should admit to my failure to find anything whatsoever related to the abilities he seems to have, but when I see everyone else looking at me with curiosity equal to that evident on Theo's face, I decide to tell them. "So far, I have 'Great speed, proficiency with quarterstaves, accelerated healing above that of a human", and now "Does not need sleep". However, my attempts to locate information about a being such as yourself is proving futile. The only similarities that you have with anything I have found are vampires and slayers, both of which are faster and heal more rapidly than a human would. However, as both need to sleep, and you do not burst into flames when in sunlight, I think we can rule out either of those two." Theo seems disappointed, and a wave of sympathy flows through me towards him. It must be terrible not to know who you are, or even what you are.

Not wishing to dwell on such melancholy topics, I return to the topic in hand. "Back to business" I say, brusquely. "Was there any reason that this cheerleading person would have felt great anger, or rage? That is the only known common factor between cases of spontaneous combustion."

"No, I don't think so. I mean, she looked pretty happy right? She knew she had a good shot at the team, and her routine was amazing, but there wasn't any reason for her to feel rage. Others might feel angry at her, because her act was exceptional. It might have made some people (not me, of course) jealous." replied Buffy.

It never ceases to amaze me that people can get so worked up over waving pompoms and shouting out slogans. It's not even a sport!

"Willow, do you think you could launch this infernal computer up, and see if there's anything on her records about incidents like this happening before. Buffy, if you could go and find Amber and talk to her yourself, and Xander you talk to her friends, see if they've seen anything suspicious or odd" I quickly order them. Buffy, as usual, complains. "I told my mom I'd be back as soon as school ends. She needs some help unpacking some new stuff for the gallery."

"Very well." I grumble. "In that case, Theo, if you would..." I break off when I see him looking at me, an odd expression in his eyes. I decide it would be better not to loose him on the public just yet. "Never mind. I'll talk to her myself."

Buffy

"Hey Mom!" I call out as I get home. Not hearing an answer, I go into the kitchen to get myself a snack. All this mystery business is hungry work! When I get there, I see a load of crates, and Mom trying unsuccessfully to lever the lid of one of them. I decide to continue making my snack. Hunger over help. "Buffy!" cries Mom, as she looks up. "I didn't hear you come in. So, how was school?" she asks, continuing to try to pry open the crate. I decide I'll have toast. "Oh, as ever, school was a great joy. Tryouts were today." Mom decides to take a break and get herself some orange juice. "Oh, how did they go?" she asks. "Well, they didn't actually go, because there was an accident. I only hope that not everyone is as good as the person who tried out today." Mom started working on the crate again, and my toast popped out of the toaster, making me jump. Isn't it interesting that a toaster in my own home is more scary than vampires are? "Don't worry, Buffy, not everyone will be. I'm sure you'll get a spot. And I don't think it would kill you to give me hand with this box, would it?" I amble over and effortlessly pull of the lid. Maybe I could get a job in construction after I graduate high school. If I live that long. Oh, the cheery thoughts I have... "So, Mom, could you tell me what I was trying out for?" I query. I love my mom, but sometimes she doesn't listen to a word I say. Mom stops and looks at me, obviously trying hard to remember. She gives up with a shrug.

"I don't know, some sort of activity?" She says breezily "I've got a lot on mind. All this stuff is for our first exhibition at the gallery: tribal art. Whatever it is though, I'm glad you're doing an activity again. When you did cheerleading in LA you were never in trouble, it wasn't until you gave up that you started..."

"Burning down buildings?" I finish. One day, I'll tell her I'm the Slayer, and she'll understand why I do these things. After she's tried to ground me for the rest of my life.

"Well, yes." Mom concedes.

I spend the rest of my evening unpacking creepy masks and idols and helping to take them to the gallery. When everything is finally done, I sneak out of my window, to head to the library. I have no doubt that Giles will be there, and will tell me what he found out from Amber. Maybe we'd even have time for a patrol. One day I hope I'll be able to have an unbroken nights sleep.

At the library, I do indeed see Giles, as usual poring over some ancient tome, but I was surprised to see Theo there as well, reading a paperback. I'd forgotten he would be here. I decide to sneak up behind him and startle him. I felt I deserved to get my own back for my humiliating defeat a few weeks ago. However, just as I'm behind him, he calmly says, without turning around, "Hello, Buffy. Would you mind walking a bit more quietly? This part is very good" Giles, however, nearly jumps out of his skin at the sudden noise. "Buffy!" he exhales in relief. "Good to see you."

Feeling somewhat put out at my plan's failure, I decide to skip the pleasantries. "So, Giles, what's the skinny on Amber?" I can see the puzzlement as English vocabulary meets American slang. "Do you mean what's her history? Normal. No previous incidents of combusting, and did not feel angry when she did. Hence me trying to find another explanation." Feeling dissapointed that it wasn't simply a case of sending Amber to anger management, I ask Giles if that means he won't go on patrol with me tonight. "Buffy, I don't think there is a need for any if us to go on patrol tonight. As you so forcefully pointed out this morning, vampires seem to be taking a holiday at the moment. However, I still think that you should train, and seeing as how your trainer is right here..." he trails off, no doubt sidetracked by an interesting passage.

Theo gets up, picks up a pair of quarterstaves, and motions for me to follow him to the other end of the library.

When we are far away enough from Giles that we will no longer disturb him from his research, he passes the staff and simply says "Attack me." I shrug, thinking that he's just begging for some bruises. I bring the staff up behind me for an over head blow to his head, and bring it down with all my Slayer strength, expecting him to either move or do a fancy block. Suddenly, I feel a sharp pain in my foot, and drop the staff and start hopping, clutching my foot and making inarticulate moaning noises.

After a few minutes of frantic hopping, I look up to see Theo leaning on his staff, eyes sparkling and mouth taut with surpressed laughter. When he sees me looking at him, he instantly becomes more serious, and asks me what had happened. I had no idea, and told him so. "Buffy, you're stronger than me." I feel I a warm glow to hear him admit that. "So I used it against you. I held my staff in such a way that you hit it like a hammer driving a nail into a plank of wood, or in this case, your foot." I feel my warm fuzzy feeling evaporate as I realize that I had just stabbed myself in the foot. He continues on about how to use someone's strength against them, but his words were lost in my self- mortification. Abruptly, a snap out of it when I hear him say "Okay, training's over. Tommorow, I want you to try another method of attack, one that I cannot turn on you." Feeling ashamed at my defeat, I quickly leave, go home, and plunge into a deep, nightmare plagued sleep.

The next day, I was woken up early by a phone call. I stumble out of bed and hurry down stairs, thinking it may be an emergency, but when I pick it up I hear "Harmony, we still on for the Bronze tonight?" I know that voice... Cordelia! "Cordy, this is Buffy. Wrong number." I hear some muttering about small number pads and glasses from her, but I hang up. Too early for Cordelia. Too early for people.

A couple of hours later, when I arrive at school, I see Cordelia again, feeling her way like a blind person. I walk up to her, and ask her if she's okay, but when she turns towards me to answer, I see her eyes are pure, milky white. I guide her to the library, telling her that we could help her there. Even as I do so, I feel some sort of revulsion building. Revulsion to what, or why, I don't know. I was surprised she didn't kick up a fuss, but then I suppose that as she now couldn't look in a mirror, nothing worse could possibly happen.

We get to the library, and I call "Giles! We've got another case!


	7. Chapter 7

Giles leaps up when Cordelia and I enter the room, and he almost flies across the disatnce between us. He looks at us curiously, about to ask us what happened, when he sees Cordelia's eyes, milking white and looking in every direction, trying to catch a glimmer of light. He gently take her by the arm, and guides her to a chair. He begins to ask her what happened. Or, at least, I assume he did. As soon as he began to speak, I stopped listening. I just didn't want to hear him. I didn't want to be with him. I didn't want to be with anyone. A sudden burning desire to leave filled me, so I did. I started slowly, but picked up speed until I almost ran out of the door.

If only it was night time! I really, really wanted to kill some vampires. I left, not hearing Giles' pleas to stay, nor seeing Theo looking at me, an inscrutable expression on his face.

Willow

Just as I was edging my way along the outside of the heaving mass that is high-school, trying to make my way to the library, Buffy came out of the library almost running. I try to call to her, asking what's wrong, but my voice is lost amongst the din of so many others. Then she see me and runs - runs! - in the other direction.

A feeling of despair fills me. I knew that it wouldn't last, that Buffy wouldn't want to hang out with losers like us forever, when she could be cool and popular. Fighting the urge to cry, I walk into the library.

Then I saw Cordelia there, sitting as if nothing had happened, and I flipped out. I knew that if anyone was at the source of Buffy acting this way, it had to be her. I started berating her angrily, moving towards her all the while.

Then my voice cut off in shock. I saw her eyes. I started apologizing, although neither that not my ranting seemed to have made any effect on her. I was interrupted by Theo, wishing me a good morning. "How can anyone be so calm at a time like this?" I ponder to myself. Turning to him, I see his eyes sparkling with suppressed laughter. Then, in an instant, his face becomes serious again. His thoughts seem to move as rapidly as he does, shifting from one to another almost instantaneously. Once again, I wonder what he is. "So, you saw Buffy?" he asks. I nod, not trusting myself to speak. If it wasn't Cordelia's fault, then it must have been ours. "She seems different. Like she doesn't want us, just wants to be alone." says Giles, his voice filled with concern. "What with all the odd things going on at the moment, I don't think it is the best of times to become a rebellious teenager." I sit up straight, as a thought hits me. "That's it!" I cry. Giles, as usual when someone else has an idea, looks bewildered. "What is?" he asks, puzzled. "Willow's right." says Theo. Can he read minds? "Buffy's not normally like this, so one of the odd things must be happening to her." Then again, maybe he had the same thought I did. "These 'odd things' as you so quaintly call them, are spells. Witchcraft. They're quite common: fire, removal of senses, alienating from those one knows. All typical spells." I feel thunderstruck. Not only do vampires and demons and golems exist, but so does magic! That's so cool!

Giles, however, looks gloomy. There has to be catch. "What's the catch?" I ask, reluctant to actually find out. "Usually, the alienation spell ends in suicide." A pit opens in my stomach, and my heart falls through it. "Buffy, suicide, dead, killing herself? No, never. Slayer, can fight it. What can we do?" I babble. "If we can find the witches spell book, we can break the spell. On everyone, not just Buffy. But we need to find the witch." replies Giles, looking as worried as I feel. An image come to me: Amy, and that look of hatred in her eyes when she saw me yesterday. "Amy." I say, my voice nothing but a strangled croak. I used to be her friend, and now she was killing mine.

"This 'Amy'.' says Giles, breaking me from my reverie. "Where does she live?" "I'll show you." I reply. We all get up and prepare to leave, hoping that we won't be too late to save Buffy's life. Then Giles looks back and sees Cordelia, and lets out a moue of disappointment. "I have to take her to the medical room. She's not safe here by herself. You two will have to go on ahead." He moves to take her arm, but she is unresponsive. It seems as though the spell has taken all her senses, leaving her a prisoner in her own mind. I feel sorry for her, and then feel surprised that I care. Only yesterday I was ranting to myself about how annoying she was. Only this morning, in fact.

Theo says in his melodic voice "Don't worry, I'll take her. There shouldn't be anyone around now that classes have started, so I can zip down and meet you outside." With that, he picks up Cordelia and slings her around his shoulders, and then sprints away, using Cordelia's feet to open the library doors. Giles watches him go, then shakes his head, obviously impressed. Then he gathers himself, and we go outside. I can only hope that we aren't too late!

By the time we get outside, Theo is already there, looking slightly out of breath. Gilles walks up to his car, and I gasp in shock, just as Theo bursts out laughing. Giles' car, the object of my shock and his mirth, is a very old grey car that looks as though it was about a 100 years old. Giles looks at us reproachfully, and gestures for us to get in. "Faster than walking." he mutters, then scowls at Theo, whose still shaking with mirth. It's a pity Xander wasn't there to see it, I have no doubt he would have said something absurd about it. "Xander!" I gasp, realizing that I hadn't seen him today. Theo, having calmed down, reassures me that he just has a cold and won't be coming in today. Wonder how he knows?

Now that we are all prepared, we get into the car. Theo graciously offers the front seat to me, and he clambers in over Giles' collection of books and papers. He pulls out a sketchbook and a pencil and begins to doodle rapidly, his hand a blur. I envy him his ability to just switch off like that. I feel tense, nervous, and I can tell that Giles feels the same.

With a deafening roar, the car starts and we're off. Feeling a bit better now that we are going somewhere, I give the directions to Amy's house. I think that her mother pushed her too hard: she always wanted Amy to be just like she had been, a perfect cheerleader. She'd made her lose so much weight, train so hard, that she had gone insane and started using black magic to get a place on the squad, not caring who got hurt or died, just so long as she satisfied her mother.

After what seemed like both hours and minutes later, we pulled up outside of Amy's house.

It certainly looked like a witches house: dark, squat and with an overgrown garden. There was even a grinning demon head on the gate. It's strange to think that I used to bring brownies here for Amy when her mother had put her on a another diet. I don't remember it being like that before, but then again, perhaps she changed it with magic.

The front door is open, and Giles calls out cautiously 'Hello? Anyone there?'. He receives the desired answer: silence. We move in quietly.

Suddenly, a dark figure appears in one of the doors leading from the central hallway, and I shriek in fear. The figure recoils to a sound of a breaking plate, and I see that it is Amy's mother, a dark stain of some kind around her mouth. At her feet us a broken plate covered in brownies. I look closely at her face, and see, despite the features of her mother, Amy's expression. She looks terrified. A hunch forms in the split second it takes me to realize all of this.

"Amy?" I ask, unsure if my hunch was correct. "Are you Amy?". She hesitates, obviously not sure whether to trust us. The she nods quickly, her head bobbing like a bird's. "My God!" breathes Giles, in shock. "She swapped bodies with you!". Again, the sharp bird-nod. Giles, having gathered himself, tells her we are just there to help her, if only she tells us where her mother's magic books and tools are. However, Amy, obviously overwhelmed and to scared to act against her tyrannical mother, turns and flees, locking the door fast behind her.

"They're in the attic." says Theo, his words slightly slurred. I look at him, concerned, and see him leaning on the wall, his face buried in his hands. "I've got to go. All the different types of magic here, they hurt me. Bring the book and meet in in the car." With those words, he leaves, and all his supernatural grace and speed seem to have left him, as he stumbles and walks as though he is drunk. Giles, ever the academic, pulls out his notebook and writes something down. I am no longer interested. I just want to end the witch's spells and save Amy and Buffy.

We ascend the stairs to the attic, accompanied by a chorus of creaking steps. Eventually, we reach the door to the attic. Giles, bracing himself in case there's a guard-spell or something, cautiously pushes the door open. Prepared to run away in case some sort of fearsome phantasm appears, we go in. I let out the breath I didn't know I had been holding, and hear Giles do the same. The attic looks similar to mine, save for the cauldron on the floor and the dolls with pieces of paper covered in occult symbols that hung from the ceiling. I peer at one of the symbols, but I was struck by such a wave of revulsion I felt almost sick. I'd guess that this is the spell Amy's mom put on Buffy.

Meanwhile, Giles had been looking around the edges of the room, being careful not to look at the dolls. I wish I hadn't either. Suddenly, just after he took a step forward, a chest shimmered into view. Giles, letting out a shocked exclamation, leaps back, almost banging his head on the dolls, and the chest vanishes. Then, with a mutter that sounded very much like "Pull yourself together, man" , he walks forward again. The chest appears once again. Having gotten over his fright, he says "Fascinating! It must be some sort of cloaking spell. She must be a powerful witch to have so many ongoing spells." Feeling impatient, I stride forward and fling open the lid of the chest. Hoping that perhaps there might be a magical kingdom, like Narnia, in it, I am dissapointed to see only a book. Giles, on the other hand, is clearly delighted. He swoops down and cradles the book to his chest like a child with a new toy.

We leave the house, hoping that the book will tell us how to defeat the witch. When I get outside, I turn and look at the house. Amy, looking out from an upstairs window, waves at me forlornly


	8. Chapter 8

Buffy

All those people, down below. They look so small, so fragile. And they are. None of them knows the darkness, the evil that could swallow them all. If I fail. When.

Isn't it strange, the thoughts that race through your head when you're ready to jump, to fall? How many others have seen the insignificance of themselves and of their race, and the knowledge forced them to jump?

I'm standing on top of the school bell tower, ready to jump and end my pain.

Then I feel a tug. I'm needed somewhere. The tug becomes stronger, a pull, a compulsion to follow, wherever it leads. It seems that now is not the time to jump. But sooner or later, the time will come when I will have no choice. I know it, I feel it in every fibre of my being.

In a daze, I give up, not caring where I am led.

A few centuries later, after walking in a daze through miles of labyrinthine corridors I see Giles and Willow. Willow is sitting down, looking at me, an apprehensive look on her face. Giles, talking in some language I don't understand, hands raised above his head, seems just like any middle aged guy in his situation would. It would be amusing, but all I feel is numbness.

Suddenly, Giles' hands plummet downwards, and I gasp in shock. I feel as though I had been filled with ice, and beneath the ice I had been hollow. With Giles' gesture, I had thawed, and I was filled with a wonderful warmth.

Hard on the heels of this ecstatic feeling came guilt. I ran to Giles and held him tightly, babbling about how sorry I was and how I'd never try to commit suicide again. I felt him tense as I hugged him, but then he relaxed, and held me just as tightly. "Welcome back, Buffy." he says warmly.

I gasp as a projectile of some sort hits me from behind, knocking the breath from me. I wriggle around, and see Willow embracing me as well, her eyes shining with unshed tears. My guilt over how I treated my friends and what I almost did vanishes like snow under the sun of their love and forgiveness.

Then Giles, somewhere breathless and flushed, draws away. "Willow, are you prepared? She'll be here very soon." Willow nods, then squeezes me tightly. Then she scampers off. "Giles, what's going on?" I ask, puzzled. "Witch." he answers brusquely, all business now. Feeling no more enlightened, I open my mouth to ask more questions, but shut it again when a tall woman bursts through the doors. It's only then that I realize that we are in a science lab at school. The woman begins speaking in a language that makes my teeth hurt and my hair stand on end, when suddenly Willow re-enters with a net, which she throws over the woman. Abruptly, the dreadful words are cut off, and just as abruptly, the figure under the net disappears, to be replaced with a puff of smoke.

Giles, after exhaling loudly with relief, turns to me. Seeing the baffled expression on my face, we gesture for me to take a seat, and asks me to wait a moment while he fills me in on the days antics.

After listening with wonder to a tale of magic and spells and spell books and witches, I fall asleep. I can't help it, I just suddenly plummet downwards into sleep. I dimly hear Giles saying to Willow that the spell breaking had taken a lot out of me, and that I and someone else would no doubt sleep for several hours.

Willow

Words cannot express the joy I felt when Buffy became once again the beautiful bouncy Buffy that we know and love. I felt a savage joy that Amy's mom had dissapeared or died or whatever happened to her. Although I had a suspicion that this might be a bad feeling, I couldn't make myself feel sorry. She had tried to hurt us!

My heart nearly stopped. Xander, who I had assumed was in bed with a cold, had just ambled in, a goofy smile on his handsome face. This smile quickly faded when he saw Buffy asleep, leaning on Giles' shoulder. "What happened?" he asks, a note of panic creeping into his voice. Giles, looking so tired I thought he would fall asleep, once again explains what we had spent our days doing. Xander clicks his fingers. "So that's why this cold suddenly disappeared! She must have wanted me out of the way for some reason." Feeling rather tired myself, I feel that I can survive the mystery of Xander's cold. At least now everyone is back to normal: Amy, Cordelia, Buffy and apparently Xander.

Theo walks in, his speed and grace restored now that all the magic had finished. He walks over to Giles, and says "Giles, I'm sorry about the way I treated you the first time we met. I was arrogant and unfair to both of you. I shouldn't have stepped in and tried to take your place. You obviously are a better teacher than I, and you saved Buffy when I could not. For this, I am sorry." Evidently, our mystery boy has a streak of pomposity in him. Giles, a weary smile on his face, extends his hand. Theo clasps it, and Giles, having succumbed to the fatigue following his first casting, fell asleep.

End of book two.

...

Did any of you wonder why Buffy didn't jump? After all, the alienation spell hadn't been broken or anything... Just a thought for you


	9. Chapter 9

Xander

Vamp in the bronze!

Looks like Buffy's taking care of it. With a swift uppercut to his chin and a punch to the stomach, Buffy sends him stumbling into the pool table. This vamp seems strong... maybe she could do with a little help?

I put down my guitar and step down from the stage, and begin ambling calmly towards the vampire. The vampire is looking apprehensively at me, knowing that its doom is nigh.

I grab its head and slam it into the pool table, and kick it in the groin, sending it reeling away. Damn! The thing was getting closer to Buffy! Thinking quickly, I break the leg off of a chair that had fallen over in the ruckus, and throw it at the vampire.

Of course, it impales it and turns it into dust. How could I do anything else?

Buffy looks at me, admiration shining in her beautiful green eyes. Then she looks at my hand, concern radiating out from her. "Oh! You hurt your hand! whill you still be able to...?" Pah! It's nothing, just a splinter.

"...Finish my solo and kiss you like you've never been kissed before?" I wink and stroll back to the stage, pick up my guitar and start playing. I hear girls calling my name in admiration, but I have eyes only for Buffy.

"You're drooling." she says, in a lovely voice. I smile, but then process what she said. "Wha?" I mumble, confused.

"Xander!" she calls quietly.

I wake up. Wow, that was a very good dream. "You've got a little..." she gestures to the corner of my mouth. I quickly wipe away the droll which had prompted the exit from my most wonderful dream.

Suddenly, in a blinding flash, the lights turn on. I realise that I must have fallen asleep in class. "Well, it's not as though that is uncommon" I thought to myself, a bit sheepishly.

Dr. Gregory starts ambling down the aisles, no doubt looking for someone to pick on. I hope it's not me: I don't think I could stand the embarrassment of having to say I was asleep.

Gregory begins to speak, and I begin to pay attention. Maybe some part of what he says will give a clue to the inevitable question.

"As any of you should know, if you had done your homework, what the ways in which ants communicate are, I think I will test you. After all, everyone should have done their homework: shouldn't they?" he peers around menacingly as he speaks.

"Buffy!" I can feel her jump next to me. "I wonder what daydream she had shifted into?" I wondered. "Could you tell me the two ways that ants communicate?" Buffy repeats him. She has obviously not done the homework either.

Then I see Willow gesturing frantically from behind Gregory. Thank God one of us here actually does some work!

She begins to pretend to stroke Theo's, her lab partner, back. He seems completely occupied making something out of the tangle of wires and batteries in front of him. I wonder what he's doing, because it certainly doesn't look like Biology. Buffy, after a few seconds of puzzlement, guesses that it must be touch. Gregory gives the magisterial nod of approval. Then I realize I just thought the word "magisterial". Evidently, being so bored in English that you read a dictionary is very good for vocabulary.

Willow moves on to hint number two: ostentatiously (ostentatiously!) sniffing Theo's back. At this he stirs, and looks at Willow, plainly wondering what she was doing. She stops, blushing. Buffy, however, has seen enough to try and have a stab at it. "B.O.?". The class breaks into laughter. I hear some wit at the back of the classroom proclaim "Thank God someone mentioned it!"

Gregory waits it out, then asks "Miss. Summers, is there anything else Willow would like to tell you?" Buffy shakes her head. Gregory sighs and calls " Class dismissed!" Everyone cheers and prepares to leave. Then he says quietly "Buffy, If you would wait behind for a moment?" Both she and I sigh: her at having to remain in Biology, and I at being cut off from her for a few minutes.

Buffy

I wonder what Gregory wants? Probably to harangue me about not doing my homework.

"So, Buffy, I hear you had some problems at your old school?"

"Yes." I answer, my heart sinking. More being told off for doing things I only did because it's my duty, my fate.

"Skipped classes, fought classmates, even burned down a gym. Impressive. I can't wait to see what you do here."

I feel as though this conversation is beginning to get away from me somewhat. It almost sounds as if he doesn't care!

"I expect it's going to be great." he continues, unaware of my growing bafflement. "Buffy, I don't care about you're permanent record. I think that you can excel in this class, and so I expect nothing less. Let's make Flutie eat your record!"

Wow! A teacher telling me that they believe in me! "Thank you sir! You won't be disappointed, I promise." He smiles at me indulgently. "I'm sure I won't. Now run along and join your friends."

Xander

D'you know what I really hate? People who always try to make it seem as though they are better than you. Even when they actually are, I can't stand it and always try to show them up. Only very rarely does this ever actually work. It doesn't even happen only at school, sometimes, like now, it happens at the Bronze, when I'm just trying to relax after a hard day of skipping classes.

"Seven" says Blayne, the womaniser. I can but hope that his "conquests" get him some sort of disease. Maybe Syphilis.

"But girls really have to have something to get with me, you know? Cordelia, now... her I wouldn't turn down."

At this crudity that was almost on a level with me, I couldn't help but butt in. "Something special, like a lobotomy?". I just had to open my big mouth. Blayne and his friend turn to me, identical expressions of contempt on their faces.

"Ah, Xander. How many times did you score?" Damn. That one gets me every time. Oh well, there's nothing for it but to bluster my way out of it. "You mean today, or the whole week?" They snigger, obviously seeing through my ploy. Then they turn back to their conversation. I spy, with my little eye, Buffy and Willow coming down the stairs. Perhaps now I can redeem myself in the eyes of Manliness.

"Duty calls!" I amble towards them, and when I get close to them I call "Babes!" and throw my arms around their shoulders. They look at me incredulously, obviously unsure of what I'm doing. Then, Buffy throws of my arm at the same time Willow snuggles up to me. It's clear that she understood what I was trying to do.

Then I see the reason for Buffy giving me the cold shoulder. A very handsome, if somewhat pale, man had just come in through the back doors. Buffy goes towards him. "Is that Angel?' I ask Willow, who had seen him briefly when The Master had tried to escape. She looks where I was pointing, and I realise that she was still snuggled against me, and how nice it felt. I quickly jumped away, and see a hurt expression on her face. Then I hear a voice from behind me say "I do hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"

I turn and see Theo, a large grin on his face, and my face probably turned into a tomato. I could see that Willow's had. He continues "So, you two are going out? Congratulations!' he exclaims, clapping me on the shoulder.

"Oh no, we're not going out. Just friends, doing, you know, friendly stuff. We do that all the time." I stammer, pulling a Willow. Willow looks at me, that same hurt expression on her face, and Theo looks at us, bemused. Then he shrugs, giving up on the mysteries that are human relationships. I can't blame him.

"Where's Buffy?" he asks, clearly trying to change the subject. I scowl at being reminded about Angel. It's bad enough having Theo around, let alone another mysterious person, who, may I say, Buffy is clearly attracted to. I gesture over to where Angel and Buffy were.

He looks over and whistles. "That's Angel? I thought he'd be smaller. And more angelic. He looks more like a male model or a rock-star or something."

"I completely agree. And what right does an old guy like him have to be sniffing around Buffy? It's just not right." I reply, indignantly. Theo looks at me then whispers something to Willow, which I don't catch. She shakes her head and says audibly "No, they're not. As much as he would like them to be." I think they're talking about Buffy and I.

"Never mind that. Anyway, it's late and time to go home. We have a school day tomorrow, after all." I try to change the subject. Willow and Theo exchange glances, then shrug in unison.

Buffy makes her way towards us, and I notice she's wearing Angel's jacket. I open my mouth to complain about him, but then close it again. No reason to seems more like a jealous boyfriend than I already do.

"So, what news did Angel bring you?" I ask, an attempt at jollity creeping into my voice. She doesn't even notice. "Tell you all tomorrow." she says, followed by a massive yawn. "Now it's time for bed.


	10. Chapter 10

"A Fork Guy? Even for Sunnydale, that's weird." I say. Buffy had just told Willow, Giles and I about Angel's cryptic message yesterday.

"That's all he said?" Giles questions Buffy. She nods. "Yeah. He's not big on forthcoming." Giles looks happy. He loves the prosect of a good research. "I'll see what I can find out about him. See you in the library later?" Without waiting for a response, Giles leaves. Man, but he really loves his books.

Speaking of books... "Did you two hear? Dr. Gregory's not in today. Ergo, those of us who didn't do our homework are not as dumb as we look." Buffy looks concerned. "Why? Is he sick?" she asks. I try to stretch back my mind to when I heard it. "Let me see. Cheerleaders trying out short skirts... one of them says - Oh what was it? - O yes. He's missing." Now both Buffy and Willow look concerned. "I hope nothing bad happened to him. He's the only teacher who doesn't think I'm a felon." says Buffy.

Then I was struck dumb by the vision of beauty that was walking towards us. Oh my! Super-fine teacher, coming up! "I, huh, uh fuh!" I try and get what I'm seeing across to the girls. They look at me, confused, and then across to were I'm looking. Or staring, really. Maybe even ogling.

I'm dimly aware of someone joining us, but my whole world revolves around this woman. My God, she's coming towards us!

"Can you help me?" she asks, in a voice like music. "Yes, of course. What do you need?" I reply gallantly. Or try to. What I actually say was more like. "Wftlg, need?" Then I pull myself together. "Yes?" I hazard, not wanting to commit myself to long words just yet. "Could you tell where Science 109 is?" she asks. "Of course!" I reply, relieved it's something that I can actually help with. Then I realize that my mind has become a complete blank. "I go there every day..." I bluster trying to remember. "Oh gods, where is it?" I ask the girls. Then Blayne appears at her elbow and leads her away, ingratiating himself to her by telling her about his sporting and academic prowess. Looks like my chance has escaped me.

I hear a voice behind me which brings me out of my despair. "Now, why would someone smell that strongly of leaf mold? Is it some sort of beauty thing?" I turn and see Theo. It must have been him who came up behind me when I was talking to Her. Buffy and Willow both say that they didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. "Of course she didn't smell of leaf mold! She smelled wonderful!" I exclaim indignantly, anxious to defend Her.

Theo throws up his hands to ward off our comments. "Alright, alright! I must have been wrong." Yet he doesn't look at though he thinks he's wrong. He looks like he wants to prove himself. Maybe he'll hurt Her! Then I shake my head to try an clear it. What's with this insane jealously and protectiveness that has appeared after seeing someone for just a few moments? I must be going mad. I clap him on the shoulder and apologize for snapping at him.

"It doesn't matter. Anyway, we're going there now anyway, so maybe this time you'll smell the leafmold!" Theo replies cheerily.

"Goodmorning, class!" She calls, when we enter the class. She receives a enthusiastic response from all the boys of the class, and none from the girls nor Theo, who's busy again with his wire-pile. "I'm Ms. French. I'm here to substitute for Dr. Gregory. I believe you were covering insect life?" A affirmative murmer runs through the class.

"Good! I will continue from where he left off. Yes?" This was to Buffy, who had raised her hand. "Where is Dr. Gregory?" she asked. An ugly expression quickly passed across Her face, but was gone in a flash. I must have imagined it - She could never be ugly. "I don't know. They just tell me where they want me." Blayne, being witty as always, says "I know where I want you." I, along with the other boys in the class, clench are fists and struggle against the urge to hit him for being crass. Fortunately, She doesn't seem to mind.

She begins to teach. "Now, class, we will be covering the Praying Mantis. A fascinating creature, and very solitary. Can anyone tell me why this is? How about you... Bufffy Summers, isn't it?" She asks, consulting her register.

Buffy, who seems to have been worrying about Gregory and not thinking blurts out the first thing that she thinks of. "Being bug-ugly springs to mind." she says distractedly. That same ugly expression passes across Her face, and just as quickly it was gone. "There is nothing ugly about insects! Every time you think like that, you should imagine how you must seem to them."

Just then, the bundle of wires that Theo had been busy building all lesson started to hum quietly. She walked towards it, a puzzled expression on Her Goddesslike face. "What is that? And what is your name?" She asks, her tone slightly angry. Theo looks at her, then at his device. It had started to hum louder as She grew nearer. He then pulled out a battery from somewhere in the tangle, and the humming stopped. "It's my project for the science fair." I look at him, wondering why he was lying. We had already had our science fair this year. "And your name?" She asks impatiently. "Theo." he answers cooly. How could he be so calm when She is so close? She looks at her register, then her forehead creases in puzzlement. "Do you have a second name? There doesn't seem to be one on here." Theo hesitates for a moment, I would guess to make up one. "Grey." he says, finally. "Very well. Now, Mr. Grey, I would appreciate it if you didn't disrupt my class in future." He nods his acceptance.

Then, suddenly, the bell rang. It seemed as though we had been here only minutes, but a whole hour had passed! For the first time in my life, I didn't want to leave a class. "One thing, before you go!" She says. All the girls sigh in frustration, and all the boys look at her in anticipation. "I want to make a new Biology display, of large Mantis eggs, and I was wondering if any of you might like to help me?" Every boy put their hands up. "Hmmmm... Blayne today." My heart sinks. "And Xander tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 11

Buffy

As the Biology lesson with Ms. French ended, Willow, Xander and I went to the cafetieria. It's quite a rare occurence for us to go there and have time to eat leisurely without having to go to Giles. Theo, on the other hand, headed straight to the library. Looks like we have a miniature Giles coming up.

Xander seems unusually quiet. He has evidenty fallen for Ms. French, and it seems as though she had a thing for school-boys.

He seems to regain some life when we reach the cafetieria. He says "Ooh, hot dog surprise! My favorite!". Willow quips "Call me old fashioned, but I really don't want any surprises in my hot dogs." I agree with her there.

"I wonder what she sees in me?" Xander muses quietly. I have feeling that he thinking about Ms. French again. If only he wouldn't seize on relationships that can only end badly, he'd be so much better off. Whoever heard of a teacher-student relationship working out? If only he'd take Willow, instead of lusting after me or, for that matter, just about anyone in a skirt.

"Probably some sort of magnetism, coupled with my good looks." he continues. "Xander, if she wants you, it's because you're too dumb to wonder why she can't find someone here own age and too desperate to care about the surgical improvements." I just can't resist riling him. His face becomes outraged "She does _not _have surgical improvements! She's all natural!." he sighs wistfully. I, on the other hand, a becoming more and more convinced that she's nothing of the kind. There's just no way she could ensnare almost every male in the school and she's been here for barely five minutes. It just smacks of magic. Willow tries to get my attention while Xander picks up his surprising hotdog. She waves a hand around and mouths something. It takes me a moment to realise that she's pretending to do magic spells. I nod, and mouth "Giles?" She nods as well.

"Hey Xander, we're just going to pop over and see how Giles is doing, 'kay?" He doesn't answer, because Blayne just appeared, no doubt to rib him about coming second place. I take his appearance as the cue for our disappearances.

It's a good thing that the library is in the middle of the school, and not tucked away like in my old school, otherwise we would spend _hours _trekking there and back. Just as we're about to go in, I hear a cry of amazement from Giles. "Fascinating! And you say you built this? How does it work?"

We go in, and see Giles peering at Theo's mess of wires, which was now faintly vibrating. Theo looks, for the first time I've ever seen him, embarrassed. "I don't really know" he mutters. "I just feel all jittery and kind of hyperactive, like Willow when she's had coffee, and then I start building this and the jitteriness just sort of flows into it."

Giles smacks his forehead. "How could I have forgotten? Theo, I think I may have found out what you are." There's a blur of motion and Theo's suddenly in front of Giles, gripping his wrists. "Really?" He says, in a quiet, intense voice. I feel as though I'm watching something private, and take Willow's hand and turn to leave. Without turning around, Theo says "No, don't go. I want you to stay and here this." Giles looks at us, surprised to see us. Then he continues, after asking Theo to let go of his wrists. "Theo, I believe that you may be a suppressed warlock." Theo cocks his head, and asks the question that I had been about to ask "What's a suppressed warlock?"

"A warlock is a male witch. They're rarer than witches, but generally more powerful. However, both witches and warlocks have the problem that sometimes their power can be re-routed as a result of some sort of trauma. This means that instead of their power being used to influence things outside themselves, it effects their physical body instead. Hence they become stronger or faster than they would normally be. I'd say that the trauma is the same as the one which caused you to lose your memory. Unfortunately, in most cases the suppression is permanent, and they never regain their powers."

Wow! I thought. Theo's a warlock. Giles' explanation explains a few things. But Theo doesn't seem satisfied. "How long do magic-users generally live?" he asks. Giles looks bemused by the direction the conversation was taking. I can't say I blame him, it doesn't seem like the most relevant of questions. "Most have a normal life, but for the more powerful ones there is the possibibility to extend their lives through arcane means. However, most choose not to do this, as it involves sacrificing one's humanity."

Theo says "For the last few days, my memory has been coming back. Just a few flashes, here and there." Giles looks surprised. "What do you remember?" he asks. "The earliest thing I remember is a young Egyptian king, who was a very powerful sorcerer. Best necromancer I ever knew. In fact, he was so powerful he created his own dimension and moved into rather than die." Giles gasps. "Dear gods! You can't be that old! It's impossible, not even the oldest vampire is that old, and all the demon's were banished to Hell long before that, and only they could have lived that long. Not even a sorcerer could survive for that long. You must be wrong." I fought the urge to laugh at Giles' inadvertent rhyming. "So, why is it impossible that he can remember this king?" I ask.

Giles looks at me seriously. "Buffy, the king that Theo claims to remember is Osiris. He was quite possibly the most powerful human who ever lived, magically speaking, and he became a immensely powerful being in another dimension, thought to be the Underworld. He lived around 7000 years ago." Both Willow and I gasp in shock, and look at Theo with new eyes. Although we had known that he wasn't human, we didn't know how not-human he was. I had assumed that he was some sort of male equivalent to the Slayer.

Theo blushes under our gazes, which seemed like an extremely human thing to do. "Ummm, can we get back to business now?" Still in shock, we keep staring at him. He backs away slowly. Then he leaves at run.

It was hard for me to wrap my head around the enormity of being alive for such a long time. Fortunately, I did what I always do when something is difficult: shove it to the back of my head and deal with it later. After all, it's not as though it makes any difference if he was over 7000 years old, he's still here to help us and he has already saved the lives of everyone in Sunnydale.

So, with some effort, I wrench myself away from thinking about such a long life. "So, Giles, what does that do?" I ask, pointing to the wires that Theo had left behind.

Giles seems relieved to think about something else. "It's a pheromone detector. He built it after he found out that insect communicate throuh their sense of smell, and it hums in the presence of something emmitting it. The larger the thing, the bigger the hum. He said he found one of the teachers was probably a bug."

"Willow, did you hear that? Xander's got a date tommorow with a bug! We have to warn him." I look around for Willow. "Willow?" I call.

"She must have gone after Theo." said Giles.

Willow

What does it matter if Theo was 7000 years old? Buffy was part of a line that dated back to the dawn of time. They were too harsh on him, and now he might do something odd. He has only been here for a few weeks, and we're the only people he knows. I know how it felt when Buffy was being controlled by that witch, but how much worse must it feel when your friends abandon you merely because you're considerably older than them?

"Now, if I wanted to be alone, where would I go?" I wonder to myself. The answer quickly comes to me. The belltower, where generations of students have gone to be alone, mainly from classwork. I walk to the long, spiral stairs that will take me up there, hoping that I'm right and he's there. I think he could really do with a friend about now.

I run up the stairs: I've never had the courage to walk them - they're too high. Usually, I'm not bothered by hights, but these stairs just freak me out.

Quickly I'm at the top, but I wait a moment to catch my breath before I go in. Finally, I push open the door.

I was right. There he was, lying in a sprawl in the corner of the room, his head cradled in his hands. He doesn't look up when I come in, nor when I come over a sit next to him.

"You know it doesn't matter how old you are, or that your faster than anyone I know, right? After all, my best friend is the Slayer, and Giles is a warlock. You're not evil. It will take them a little time to adjust to it, and then everything will be fine." I comment, in a light conversational tone.

Without removing his hands from his face, or in fact moving in any way, he says "But it's not just that. Giles and Buffy both know what they are. I don't."

At least he's not ignoring me. "Theo, we will figure it out. There has to be something in Giles vast amount of books about what you are - _who _you are. You're not alone in this."

At last he stirs. He moves his hands away, and stares at me, into my eyes. His eyes look like a hawk's - he has never looked less human. Then he relaxed, and he became the same Theo who saved Sunnydale, bright and full of life. He takes my hand, and murmurs "Thank you". His hand feels so warm, and comforting. Shouldn't I be the one comforting him? Isn't that why I'm up here? Then he draws away, ready to go downstairs. "Wait!" I call to him. He turns, one eybrow raised in a quizzical expression. "Can I go down first? I hate these stairs, so I always run down them." His eyes soften. "Willow, I won't let you fall."


	12. Chapter 12

Xander

My parents always mess everything up. I'm having a nice day, I have a date with my teacher tomorrow, and then I get pulled out of school because Dad, in one of his drunken stupors, had fallen down the stairs and had broken his arm.

At least I would still see Ms. French tomorrow. I check my pocket to see if I still have the adress she had written for me, as if I hadn't already memorised it. I would keep that note forever, to treasure her beautiful handwriting.

I wouldn't be able to see my friends 'till afterwards, because I probably wouldn't be in school for the next couple of days. At last, a legitimate reason to skip school! Anyway, I'm sure they won't mind. I'll tell them everything that happend the day after tomorrow. Which, as I look around me, will be very soon. It's already getting dark. Where does all the time go?

Buffy

"Giles, could you hit the books and see if there's anything in them about humans that emit pharohmen, or whatever it is?" I ask the Book-on-Legs.

He sighs "Pheromones, Buffy." Then he brightens up, as he always does when he recalls something. "I remember a colleague of mine in England mentioning something like this once. I'll talk to him immediately. Or as soon as I can get through the network of hospital workers and his carers. Poor Philip..." He sighs again. I decide it's better not to ask what happened to Philip.

"Did you happen to see Xander, Willow or Theo since lunch?" I ask. I needed to tell Xander that his latest crush is monster. I also wanted to apologise to Theo for the way I had acted towards him earlier. For someone who sees monsters almost every night, I hadn't coped well with finding out that my friend was older than Jesus.

"No, I haven't. Buffy, I think that you should go on patrol - there's still the Fork Guy Angel warned you about. It's getting dark, so you should go soon. I'd go with you, but..." he gestures to his pile of books and to the telephone "...I have a lot of things to do. Good Luck! "

"Thanks." I turn and leave out the back door, because it's nearer to the cemtery that way. Vamps nearly always go there at least once a night, to welcome any newborns. So I get to Slay two for the price of one.

I stroll on down to the cemetery, but I keep my eyes peeled for any other vamps I might see on the way. Fortunately, it seems like a quiet night and the vampires are all somewhere else. I do hope they're not planning something - I have enough with as it is without out a ravening horde trying to drink everyone in Sunnydale.

Things start to get more lively when i reach the cemetery, because I see a dark shape waiting near one of the graves. It could be just a mourner, but in Sunnydale, at night... hardly likely.

I draw nearer, my Slayer-Senses tingling. I'm sure it's a vampire, an old one at that. I creep up behind it, ready to stake it in the back, when I see moonlight glinting off the enormous metal claw he has in place of a hand. Even though Angel had warned me about Fork Guy, I hadn't expected the sheer forkiness of him. I couldn't help but exhale in shock, which, with his vampire hearing, he heard.

He spins round, a snarl on his bumpy vampire face. "Fresh meat!" he growls, hungrily. In a heart beat (Mine, not his. Vampire hearts don't beat.) he was in front of me, his hand gripping my shoulder and his claw poised to rip out my throat. I grab him by the wrist to pull him off my shoulder, kick him in the shins, then draw back and let loose a mighty punch to his throat, sending him sprawling to the ground. I pin him there, then extricate my stake from my pocket. I really need a special pouch for it - if that happens when my traget isn't pinned, I could be in real trouble.

I grin at him."Don't seem so fresh now, do I?" I quip, as I plunge the stake downwards into his heart. Except I miss. "Huh?" I wonder to myself. I haven't missed since my first Slaying. Then I feel something crash into me from the side, smacking me against a nearby gravestone. That's going to hurt in the morning!

It's the vampire Forky had been waiting to rise. Although he had managed to take me by surprise, he was clumsy and slow, slightly dazed like most new born vampires. I evade his clumsy thrust and stake him, and grin as he turns to dust. Then I remember Forky, who I can see legging it back to his nest in the sewers. I run after him as only a Slayer can run.

I catch up with him before he makes it out of the cemetery, but then I see a lady, carrying some groceries. Forky changes direction and heads for her, no doubt looking for a quick snack. He comes up behind her quietly, but she turns her head to look at him. I mean just her head, turning around 180 degrees to look at him calmly. Forky hisses and runs away, scampering down the nearest man-hole.

The lady was Ms. French. If I remember my Biology lessons right, the only insect capable of doing something like that is a Praying Mantis.

I thought I'd tell Giles in the morning, because after all we had both had several long days. It's about time one of us had a decent nights sleep. Anyway, I needed by sleep in order to recover from the beating Forky and his minion had given me - I didn't want Mom to think that I had started to fight again. What harm could it do to wait a day before going up against creepy-crawly Ms. French? Xander wouldn't even be going to see her until tomorrow. Everything would seem better after a good nights sleep.

In the morning, i woke just before my alarm went off, because a thought had suddenly come to me when I was sleeping. Blayne had gone to see Ms. Bug yesterday! He could well be dead by now. I should never have gone to bed while I knew a monster roamed Sunnydale. I got out of bed, turned off my now-ringing alarm clock and got dressed rapidly. I wanted to see Giles as soon as possible, and stop Xander from going to see Buggy.

If I go quickly, I should be able to catch Giles before school starts. Even if I don't - well, I've skipped classes before, and this is something of an emergency.

I grab a muffin that Mom had so considerately left me for my breakfast and go dashing out the door, wondering when Mom actually gets up. I hope when I get a job I don't have to get up at the crack of dawn, because then with all my Slaying duties I'd never have time to sleep. I'm too young to become an insomniac.

I make it to school in record time (for me. Usually being early is just as impossible as - vampires. Not quite the analogy I was looking for, but it will do. You see how my mind wanders when there's no immediate danger? It's worse when it's early in the morning.) I walk quickly to the library, noticing as i do that the only people here are all the people I would imagine as being part of the chess club. It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who's never early. I do hope that the library isn't full of nerds. Then I feel bad for thinking that, because my best friends are nerds.

I push open the library doors, and see Giles huddled over a cup of coffee, looking awful, wearing the same suit as yesterday, which was now looking rather rumpled. He evidently hadn't gone home or slept all night. That made me feel even worse for not going straight to him yesterday as soon as I realised what type of bug Ms. French is. Oh well, it might be too late for Blayne, but at least we can still save Xander.

"Hey." I call, softly. He doesn't look ready for any loud noises yet. He looks at me tiredly "Buffy." he says in greeting. Then we both say, at the same time, "She's a Praying Mantis." I giggle, and he looks at me, then he too begins to giggle, and the years and fatigue drop off him. He reminds me of my Dad, before the divorce - no, unhappy thoughts. Don't go there.

"Have you seen Xander?" I ask, changing the subject. "Willow called me this yesterday, apparently his father broke an arm whilst drunk yesterday and he went to the hospital with him. She says he won't be back until tomorrow." he replies. "It will be too late by then." he looks at me questioningly, obviously too tired to phrase the question "Why?". "He's going to see her later today. Her excuse was to help make some Mantis eggs for a new Biology display. Blayne - someone in our class - went to see her for the same reason yesterday."

Giles stands up, suddenly energized and authoritative. "We need to find out where she lives. If only Willow was here, she could..."

"What could I do?" Willow asks lightly, from the library entrance. "Morning Willow!" I wave. She waves back. "Willow, of you could chop into the school's computer system and find where she lives, we could go and stop her from , um, mating with Xander, and then ripping off his head."

"It's hacking Giles, not chopping." she admonishes, heading towards the computers. Then she stops. "Wait. Did you say mate?" she asks Giles. I had just been about to ask the same question.

"I'm afraid so. The creature finds male human virgins, uses them to fertilise her eggs, and then tears off his head. Much the same as a normal Mantis might." Willow shivers and grimaces, then continues on her way to the computers. "I'd better do this quickly then." she mutters.

A couple of minutes later, she excitedly cries "I've found it!" at the same time that the bell goes. Looks like we won't be able to go yet - we had all been in trouble for skipping classes already because of that business with the witch. But then again, lives were in danger...

I look at Giles, silently willing him, as the responsible adult among us, to choose whether we should go now or wait until after school when we may not have the time to stop her evil plan. Giles opens his mouth to say something, but from behind us comes a voice saying "I'll go."

We all jump. While we had been looking at the computer screen, Theo had silently walked up behind us and looked at the screen with the address on it. He continues by saying "After all, I have a free lesson now, and I'm fast for my age." he says this with a tiny smile curling his lips. I feel a rush of gratitude towards him, which is quickly swamped by the prospect of a French lesson. Nevertheless, I remember my manners and thank him.

After enduring a double lesson of linguistic torture, Willow and I escape. We head to the canteen, hoping to see what news Theo has, when we hear a scream coming from the food preparation area. Willow and I exchange glances, and then go running towards the sound of the scream. Willow mumbles something about "Will we ever get to run away from a scream?" but there's no real point in answering. As long as she's a Slayers friend, there will always be danger.

We arrive to see Cordelia standing in the middle of the room shrieking at the top of her voice, staring into one of the fridges. Willow tries to calm her down, with not much success, whilst I look into the fridge, somewhat apprehensive as to what I might see.

I see a headless body in a white lab coat, with a name tag on it. The head isn't there, and there seems to be some jagged injuries around the neck, suggesting that the head hadn't been removed cleanly, by a sword or an axe. I'm somewhat surprised that i can take all of this so calmly, but then I suppose being a Slayer can only help in situations like this. I peer closer, trying to read the name tag.

"Willow, we've found Dr. Gregory."


	13. Chapter 13

We'd found out what had happened to Dr. Gregory. I really wish we hadn't, I prefered it when we didn't know where he was. Then I could imagine he had just decided to leave. I like... had liked him, and now the only teacher ever to believe in me was dead.

It just hardened my resolve to bring Bug Lady down.

My voice harsh with anger and unshed tears, I call for Willow, telling her to leave come me, someone else will clear it up. We need to find out if the adress was correct, if Ms. French does live there. Then, school or no school, I will go there and wipe her out.

We leave together, turning our backs on the still screaming Cordelia. We see Theo, sitting by the canteen door by himself, looking for us. When he sees us, he smiles and waves us over.

However, when we sit sown at his table, the smile drops form his face. "Bad news. Ms. Bug stole the name, adress and credentials of an old subsitute teacher who's about 80. She doesn't live there."

I slam my fist on the table in frustration, making a big clanging sound and nearly driving a hole through it. Sometimes Slayer strength can be such a pain. Willow talks to me soothingly, trying to get me to calm down. I tell Theo what we ad seen in the fridge. His face becomes understanding, and then hardens, as I feel mine has done. "She must be stopped." He says, his voice cold.

I nod once, briefly. Willow's now trying to calm both of us down. "How are we gong to find her? We can't just knock on every door in Sunnydale. If only we had a police dog, or something that could sniff ..." I slowly run down that sentence as an idea hit me. I smile, feeling better now that we have a clear course of action. Willow and Theo both look at me quizzically, wondering why the sudden change in expression. "The vampire I fought yesterday, he was scared of her. Ran away. With his vampiric senses he must be able to smell her, and then we can find her and kill her." Willow looks nervous, but Theo lights up with a smile the equal of my own.

Now we just have to wait until sundown. We have a long schoolday ahead of us.

After several hours of clockwatching, school finally ended. Now I had to locate Forky's lair in the sewers, then bring him out to find Buggy's lair. So many lairs. Theo and Willow would wait by Xander's house in case he went there first, so they could stop him going, or at least delay him long enough for me to slice and dice her. I touch the axe I'd taken from Giles collection for reassurance, then headed down a manhole, straining my Slayer senses to the limit to find Forky.

It didn't take long. I caught him just ater the sun went down, climbing through another manhole. I hit him with the axe handle to subdue him, then tied up his arms so that he couldn't escape. Now I just have to lead him around, and wait for him to try and run away from one of the houses. A piece of cake.

Xander

At last! After three days of waiting, I'm finally on my way to visit the woman of dreams, the beautiful, the delectable, the amazing Ms. French!

I'm so excited that I'm not even going home to change, just going straight there. I hope I'm not late, and I look alright... what if she's not into me?

Oh gods, calm down. It's not like this isn't the first time someones rejected me. But will it be the first time someone accepts me?

There's her door!

I knock, feeling as though my heart might burst with excitement and nervousness. Then the door opens, and I forget to breath. If I had thought her beautiful before, it was nothing compared to how she seems now, out of her dowdy school-teacher clothes and in a wonderful strapless dress.

"Xander!" she says, a smile on her fabulous face. "How nice to see you. Please, come in, come in." She ushers me through to her lounge. "Would you like a martini?" she asks, courteously. I'm too young to drink, but right now I don't care. She's pouring me one anyway.

She hands it to me and pours herself one. Then she sits next to me. I mean right next to me, touching me. It could be accidental...

"Cheers." she says, lifting her glass to her to her lips, delicous red lips. In a stupor, I swallow the drink whole, and instantly the room seems hazy. No wonder my Dad fell down the stairs when he was drunk - after a few of these, I wouldn't be able to even see the stairs, let alone walk down them.

The room gets more and more hazy, like a grey mist is passing in front of my eyes. I'm still aware of a presence in the room, but it's not Ms. French. It's malevolent, evil, and watching me, waiting...

I hear a loud thump, and then I pass out.

Buffy

Found it! At last, after what seems like hours of seraching but is actually only about 30 minutes, Forky finally found the house that he finds more frightening than me. I stake him, and watch him turn to dust. I'm going to have to wash all this off when I get home - I'm glad Mom doesn't ask why my clothes are always so dusty.

I knock on the door, on the off chance she'll open it. I wait a minute, hoping there'll be an answer, but there isn't. I pull out my axe, reading for a fight, and kick the door with all my Slayer strength. It crumples, and I kick again, and again, until there's a gap big enough for me to squeeze through, which I do as fast as I can.

Good thing too. Just after I got through, some sort of blade whistles through the air, and would have cut me in half if I had been slower. I spin, and see a big, green Praying Mantis looking at me, head cocked on one side and its insectoid eyes reflecting the light from the rather nice hall lamp.

I roll, aiming for the legs so it will be unbalanced, easier to fight. With blinding speed, one claw swipes downwards, blocking my attack, and the other sweeps out like a scythe, trying to cut my head off. I duck just in time, and imbedded my stake in the claw as it passed over head, to be rewarded by a high pitched scream of pain.

Unfortunately, I'm caught of balance, and it takes full advantage by kicking me with one of its spindly insect legs, knocking my head against a wall with a resounding crack. I see stars, but I get to my feet quickly, fighting down a wave of nausea. I come at it more slowly, trying to stay out of reach of the killer claws. I wish now, more than ever, that Giles had taught me the crossbow rather than wasting all that time on quarterstaves. I could really do with a ranged weapon right about now.

Suddenly, the creature reels towards me, then spins with a hiss. Xander had appeared, and thrown a cushion at its head. Apparently this effort was too much for him, and he collapsed, but that's moment was all I needed. I swing my axe and bury it deeply in the creatures neck. Then I let my Slayer instincts take over - I never had much taste for gore.

Xander

I feel so stupid! Okay, even more stupid than I normally feel, but I hadn't thought that was even possible.

Buffy and Willow had just explained to me everything I had missed in the safety of my cellar - sorry, room. I really hate having friends over to my house.

They seemed to find it kind of amusing, especially how Blayne had wet himself when Buffy had found him in the cellar, and how I had been completely under her thrall. In fact, now that the embarressment had worn of a little, I kind of agreed. Of course, knowing that only a monster would be the only thing ever to feel any kind of attraction for me put the damper on things for me.

My thoughts were quickly diverted by two things: The possiblity that maybe next time it would happen to someone else, and the remains of the drug she... it had put in the martini sending me to sleep.

End of Book Three.


	14. Chapter 14

Buffy

The vamp came at me with a swinging hook to the face, which I neatly ducked and responded to with a spinning round kick to his shoulder, sending him stumbling. I captalised on this with a quick knee quick ad stomach punch, knocking him to the ground. I pull out my stake, and with a quick quip of "I'm Buffy, and you're History!", I stake him, taking care not to get any dust on my clothes.

Giles emerges from behind one of those large crypty-things I can never remember the name of. He looks at his clipboardon which he had been making notes about my fighting technique. "So, how did I do?" I ask, brightly. "Poor technique, priority on making fun of him rather than staking him. A little too bloody for my taste." he replies.

Why am I not surprised that he didn't think my little scuffle was very good? "Don't worry Giles, it's my pleasure to make the world a safer place." I answer him, sarcastically. He seems somewhat taken aback that I take offence at his harch analysis of my fight. "I'm not saying your technique isn't effective, but it's not effective enough. It should just be lunge and move on." He demostrates the gesture with his fancy ornate pen. Then he sees something on the ground. "Hello." he says, curiously. He picks it up with his pen. I can't resist making some sort of joke. "So, do I get 50%?" I ask him jovially. "What?" he responds, with a preccoupied tone to his voice. With a sinking feeling, I realize that this probably means that there'll be some kind of apocalypse on the way soon. Or something doomy and gloomy, anyway. Nevertheless, I forge on with my joke. "You are going to sell it, right? I kill the vampires, and you fence their stuff." It's an awful joke, and even I know it. It's on a level with Xander. Giles doesn't even dignify it with a "Don't be absurd." or anything.

"Buffy, I'm going to consult my books. I'm not entirely sure as to what this ring means, but I am sure that it will be something big. Vampires that aren't out just for killing are always something big. I'll see you in the library tomorrow?" Without waiting for an answer, he leaves, muttering to himself about what books might tell him what's going on now. I head on home. My bed is calling.

The morning after, I pay Giles a visit. He hasn't found anything yet. "The symbol on the ring is a rune of fidelity, but I don't know what it has to do with vampires. Yet."

I twirl the ring in my fingers, examining it. Then I see something on the inside. "Hey, what's this, on the inside? I'm sure we saw something like that recently." I pass it to Giles while I go on a book hunt. To think, me, looking in books! Being a Slayer might not be so bad after all. Besides the killing and all that jazz.

"A sun and three stars? No, I don't think we've seen that-" I interrupt him by thrusting the book in front of him. "Oh, the Order of Aurelius." Man, I'm going from strength to strength. First I actually look in a book, and then I find something that book-man has not. Amazing. "Two to Buffy, while the Watcher has yet to score!" I say. Why not spread my happiness around?

Then Owen, the hottest boy in our year, walks through the door. "Owen! Hi!" I call. I'm kind of surprised I dind't stumble over my own tongue. He's so damned hot! Giles looks at him suspiciously, then asks "What do you want?"

Owen look's surprised. I guess he's not accustomed to Giles. "A book?" He makes the statement into a question. "Yes Giles, this is a school library. People do come in here looking for books you know." "I was starting to suspect that that was a myth." he mutters to me, under his breath. "Which book are you looking for?" he asks Owen.

"I lost my copy of Dickinson. Emily. So I want to borrow another copy until I can find it or get another one. She's kind of like a securit blanket that I like to have around." He replies.

"Oh, I have something like that! Not a book, it's more of an actual blanket, and I dont carry it around any more." I knew it! I knew i couldn't speak to a hot boy for long without putting my foot in my mouth at least once. I've got to try an rescue the situation. "So, Dickens. She's great. Let me show you to the-" I realize I dont know what type of book Dickens wrote, she I quietly ask Giles. "Poetry." He murmurs, an amused expression on his face at my attempts to impress Owen. "Poetry section." I finish, trying to pretend as though I hadn't stopped talking half way through. He seems to buy it. "Sure.' he replies. "Oh, and It's Dickinson."

"She's good also.' I reply, cringing internally. I lead him towrads one of the nearby shelves. "I didn't think I would find you in here." He says. Surprised at the comment, I ask "Why?". He flushes slightly, and stammers "I- I think you can read." He's adorable! "Why thank you.' I say, trying to get him to continue. I think I like where this is going. "It's just that I didn't think you were bookwormy, and spend your time in a gloomy book filled room... I didn't mean that to be offensive." He's kind of like Willow, blurting out whatever he thinks of and then trying to cover it up afterwards. Also not disimilar to what I just did downstairs. "No, I'm not offended, just surprised you gave any thought to me at all." I reassure him. He finds his book and starts back to Giles to check it out. "You shouldn't be." he says to me quietly. He checks out his book and leaves.

"So, about the Order of Aurelius..." Giles continues as though Owen had never come in. I interrupt him . "That was Owen.". Giles looks at me, amused. "I remember."

"Giles, I need another copy of Dickinson." His expression changes from amused to exasperated. "Buffy, while I think that you checking out a book should be a national holiday, I think we should concentrate on the task at hand. Now, the Order of Aurelius are an ancient and venerated sect..."


	15. Chapter 15

Willow

"So, Owen actually talked to you? Wow." I question Buffy in the cafetieria. Although I'm acting surprised, I'm actually kind of jealous. Why does every boy she meets fall for her? What does she have, that I don't? Well, apart from not being a shy, geeky person in mousy clothes, obviously. It's just unfair!

"Yeah, he totally did. He was so sweet as well. I think he might have a crush on me." This last bit was in a confidential whisper. However, she hadn't noticed that Xander and Theo were coming up behind her, and she ddn't see the flicker of hope that passed across Xander's face, before he repressed it. Theo, on the other hand, remained impassive. I guess when you're as old as him, relationships kind of lose their appeal. They come and sit next to us, and Buffy jumps, having not heard them come up behind her.

"Please tell me you didn't hear any of that." she begs. Theo, his mouth curled into a crooked smile that gave away his lie, courteously said "Of course not." Buffy sighs in relief, seemingly not noticing that he had lied. Xander, however, was no polite. "Who's sweet and has a crush on you?" He asks, his voice full of hope that probably only I, having known for years and being in love with him, hear.

Buffy seems torn between reluctance to say something about Owen, and keeping it a secret. She decides to do the first option, but not in an obvious way. "Hey look, there's Owen sitting over there all by himself. I'd better keep him company." She quickly sweeps up her food tray and alomst scampers over to his table at the other end of the cafetieria.

Xander, being in denial about what is right in front of him, asks me who see was talking about. I look at him, exasperated, and then pointedly point at Owen. "Oh." He sags.

"So, Willow. How're you doing?" asks Theo, trying to change the subject. "Oh, I'm good." I answer breezily, trying not to it away that I feel jealous and as though I will never have a boy doing for me what Buffy is doing for Owen.

It didn't seem to work. His eyes narrow, and flick from my face to Xander's, who's staring after Buffy. Theo opens his mouth to say something, probably some kind of condolence, which I don't really want to hear right now. Fortunatley, I'm saved from this indignation from a crash of someone dropping their tray. Xander snorts, and says "Bah, she pushed her! Unfair! give the Slayer a penalty."

It seems as though Cordelia, ever alert to the main chance, had also gone over to sit next to Owen. And as we all know, she doesn't suffer rivals.

Owen, however, seems untroubled by her solicitations, and helps Buffy with her tray. Cordelia, In a voice that even we could hear becuase of the hush that always erupts in situations like this, asks him if he would like to go to the Bronze with her and her gang tonight. "Who else is going?" He asks. Cordelia confused at something which isn't a straight up "Yes!" answers, "Well, I'll be there." in case he hadn't understood the first time. Owen repeats himself, and Cordelia, still confused, asks "Besides me?". Owen, clearly giving up on talking to her, asks Buffy If she'll be there. Now it's her turn to be confused, and she stammers "Ye-yes." How come stammering make her look cute, but when I do it I just look foolish? Owen, his voice showing the smile that he was to far away for me to see, replies "Great, I'll see you at eight."

Buffy comes back over to us, a massive smile on her face. Without her smile changing in any way, she tells us that Giles had wanted to speak to them now, as we all had no lesson, and that it was something to do with some sort of calculations to do with some sort of sect. She's too happy to give much detail on something she probably only half listened to anyway. Then she ambles away to the library, as though dazed. Xander lets out a noise something between a snort and a sigh, and starts grumbling under his breath. Well, I guess it's not the role of the sidekick to be jealous of the superhero. I tell him that he should be happy for her, and I try to feel the same. All the while, I can feel Theo waiting to say the thing he had been about to ay earlier. I wanted to hear it even less now than I did earlier. So I pick up my bag and head over to the library, not waiting for the others to catch up.

Buffy

Owen asked me out! At last, something normal in my life. Something good. I vow to myself that I will hold onto this feeling when Giles starts spouting his "Apocalypse, Now" rubbish. We'll stop it, just like we stopped the Master before.

"Buffy!" calls Giles, when I get to the library. "Where are the others?" I answer breezily "Oh, they'll be here in a minute." Even as I speak, Willow scampers through the doors, closely followed by Theo, who in turn is followed by Xander. It's like a race horse track.

"Congratulations!" murmurs Willow, coming to sit on the table next to me. Playing down the excitement and happiness I felt, I tell her "It's no big deal. Just me, him, and a bunch of other people." Willow, seeming shocked at my casuallness, says "It is a big deal! Tell her, Giles."

"Im afraid it's a vey big deal." says Giles, his nose buried in a book once again. Willow smiles, and says "Thank you." It's nice to have a friend who's so happy for me. Xander, judging from the black scowl he was giving the floor, couldn't be more unhappy, and Theo just didn't seem to care about relationships. He, like Giles, was flicking through a book. Unlike Giles, it was 'Wuthering Heights'. Then my ears just process what they had heard: Giles, supporting Willow on a Boy Matter. "What?" I ask, bemused. Giles, looks up from his book. "What were you talking about?", he asks, his voice serious. "Boys." Willow and I answer in unison.

"Oh. I was talking about something a little bit more serious, although, I suspect, not to you." gesturing to Willow, Xander and I. Theo buts in, although he's still reading from his book. "It's the end of the world, isn't it. Again." Giles seems a little put out that Theo had stolen his thunder. "Well, yes, it is. Again. If my calculations ae correct, a vampire known as "The Anointed One" will rise tonight, and with his help, the Master will escape his prison, the hellmouth will open, and we will all be in trouble." Giles, being English, feels the need to understate everything. "Buffy, you and I will have to go out on patrol tonight, and kill this vampire before he makes it to the Master."

I knew that this was going to happen! I meet a nice boy, he asks me out, and I can't go becuase of some stupid ancient prophecy. "I have plans. Dance plans. Owen plans." Giles looks at me sternly, and I realise that my duty as slayer takes priority over everything, even Owen, no matter how I feel about it. "Canceled plans." I say, forlornly


	16. Chapter 16

Oh, the sheer joy of waiting for hour after hour for a vampire destined to help bring about the end of a the world, whilst I could be, at this very moment, dancing with a hot boy. Nothing can compare with the hapiness I was feeling.

"Buffy..." began Giles, hesitantly. He had come with me to make sure that I actually fufilled my duty, rather than sneaking off to Owen. He had started the evening lecturing me about my duties, but this had gradually tailed off when no vampire emerged. "... I think that I may have mis-calculated." I lied when I said nothing compares to waiting in a graveyard. Being told I don't have to far, far outstrips it.

"Does this mean I can leave? I can go to the Bronze and find Owen?" I ask, hoping that I might be able to salvage part of what has been, so far, an unmitigated disaster. Giles, as usual, is reluctant for me to have any fun, but in this case he can find no way to forbid me, in his sternest, most English manner. With a sigh, he says "Yes, by all means go. Follow your hormones." As I turn to leave, he says "Buffy, I don't have to remind you that you shouldn't tell him who you are. Slaying is still more important than a relationship witha some teenager." Yea gods, no wonder he's single! Not even dignifying this with a response, I continue on my way. I hear him mutter behind me "'Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed One will rise.' I was sure it was tonight"

I hurry quickly to the Bronze, looking at my watch. It's only nine, so I'm only an hour late. There's still time to meet him and have a few dances, maybe arrange to meet again sometime. You never know.

I walk quickly through the open doors, suddenly aware that my clothes are really unsuitable for dancing or looking pretty. They're just for warmth. They'll have to do.

I glance around the room, looking for - there! There he is, the two-timing, yellow-bellied coward! Dancing with Cordelia!

"Okay, Buffy, calm down. Deep breaths. Owen is not a yellow-bellied coward. Just two-timing. You're overreacting. Tired. Just turn around, leave and go home. You'll feel better in the morning." I thought to myself. As usual, I'm right. I am tired. going to bed now is a good idea. I follow my own advice.

Xander

"So, let me get this straight. You were a hour late because of a vampire no-show, and saw Owen dancing with Cordelia. Then you just... left?" I ask Buffy, having heard her recount of last nights non-activities incredulously. This guy asks her out, and she turns up, sees him occupied and thinks the worst. This is going to be like one of those films, the ones where she'll over hear a conversation and take it completely wrongly and go off and get killed.

"What am I meant to say? Sorry I'm late, i was waiting in a prophecy to stop a bad vampire from rising and doing something bad, which no one knows what it is because the book of prophecies is lost? Yeah, then I can say I left my straight-jacket at home" she responds, with just a smidgeon of anger. I wouldn't want to be Cordelia just now... well, or ever. She's really annoying.

"You couldn't just tell him you had a flat tire, or went to sleep? I've used those many a time." I thought I'd make her jealous by alluding to past relationships. I don't think knowing I dated Willow when we were five would really help matters. However, she's too distracted to pick up on it. "Yes, but thatwould've made sense. Buffy and sense do not mix." she complains. Then she realizes that she's talking about sense with me, of all people. "Nor, usually, do Xander and sense. Well done you." Even though I was being praised as though I were a dog, I nevertheless felt a warm glowing, knowing that it was Buffy-praise.

Then she slips back into Owen mania. "Will I ever have a life?" she exclaims, frustratedly, pounding her fist on a nearby locker, leaving a sizeable dent. A passerby looks at her in shock, and she growls at him, then snarls, "Yeah, that's right. I have no life. Want to make something of it?" The passerby scurries away in fear.

"Buffy" I begin, in a soothing tone "You might be taking this a little seriously. after all, you could have any guy in school." Trying to slip myself in there again, and again she doesn't notice. I'll have to be more obvious next time.

"But he's not any guy! He's so much more... Oweny." she wails. I try to lighten the mood. "Sure, he has a certain Owenosity, but he's not unique just because he can read. I can read." There, is that obvious enough.

"I can read too." comes a voice from behind me. I spin around, and see Theo and Willow, who've evidently just come from the library. Theo turns to Willow, and asks solicitously "Can you read?" she nods. "There, we can all read. Now, what are we reading?" he asks.

Willow, not interested in Theo's absurdity - it was good, high evel absurdity as well, especially seeing how old he is. Kudos to him - asks Buffy how her date with Owen went. Buffy, in a morose, monotone voice, fills them in on the details. Theo looks supremely uninterested, and Willow looks sad on behalf of her friend. Willow opens her mouth to say something, no doubt to suggest a girls' night out or whatever it is that girls do in this situation, when another voice appears from behind, asking tentatively "Buffy?" Is this national creep up behind Xander day or something?

Once again, we turn around, this time to see the face of Owen. Fighting the urge to be rude to him, I let him speak to Buffy, who as soon as she had seen him had called "Owen!" softly, so softly that I doubt that anyone but me heard her.

"Where were you last night?" He asks, evidently somewhat nervous that the answer was because she hadn't wanted to see him. Maybe if I acted more like a sensitive and shy guy, I too would have people queeing up to date me. Buffy, flustered, answers "Well, I lost my watch, and all the clocks in my hose are either not working or showing the wrong time, so I didn't even know what day it was, let alone what the time was." I struggle to keep myself from laughing at what must be extremely high up in "The World's Most Ridiculous Excuse List". Theo doesn't manage to restrain himself, and lets out a brief bark of laughter before Willow elbows him in the ribs.

Owen, however, seems unmoved by her excuse. He pulls out a nice antique pocket watch, like the one the White Rabbit has in Alice in Wonderland, and offers it to Buffy, saying "Here, use mine. I'll see you tonight at seven? That's when the big hand points here, and the little hand here." Hahaha, funny. Not. He's trying waaaay to hard. Surely she can't fall for that?

Of course she can. She obviously feels somewhat shocked that someone had made the effort to ask her out twice, and even give her a watch, she says "Yes!" gratefully. Owen then mutters something about class, and we see Giles hurrying up behind him. A feeling of hope bubbles up inside me as I hope that once again Giles has found something to stop Buffy going on her date.

Giles reaches us, flourishing a newspaper. He points out the headline, which says "5 die in coach crash." He says "I wasn't so far off after all. Five will die, and from their ashes the Anointed One will rise!"

"Giles, you can't be serious! These people clearly died in a crash, and what's more, are you trying purposefully to ruin my life? I've got a date tonight!." Buffy rants, looking angry, and exasperated. I hope Giles is able to make her realize that duty is more important than Owen, but in the face of Buffy I doubt it. Giles says "Is there nothing you do but date? Youe went on one only last night!" Buffy shakes her head, and tells him what happened, making it the thrird time in about twenty minutes that I have heard it. The things I put up with for Buffy. Then I hear her refuse to go and visit the funeral home where the dead guys are.

"Very well." says Giles, having caved in. "I'll go by myself." Theo volunteers, saying "I'll go too. As much as I'll miss the tedium of classifying the library all night, I'm sure I can do without it it for one night." Giles looks at him appraisingly, then nods in agreement. "I'll meet you there at nightfall."


	17. Chapter 17

Giles

I reach the Sunnydale Funeral Home just as the sun is setting. I haven't done a mission like this since my years at the Watcher's Academy - I do hope I haven't lost my touch. I see Theo sitting on a gravestone by the front door, doodling in a sketch pad. I envy him his calmness, because right now my stomach is churning as though several hundred butterflies were having a really riotous party in it.

He looks up as I draw near, and smiles. The sun sets, and instantly a pair of vampires dash out of the funeral home to attack us. I pull out my cross and wave it in their faces, and watch as they cower in fear and run. It certainly looks as though something big is going to happen here tonight, if vampires are already here and guarding the place.

Theo gestures for me to go first, and after a moments hesitation I thrust open the doors. Seeing nothing, i motion for Theo to follow me in. Looking around cautiously, searching for the the Anointed One. I suspect that he's Andrew Borba, suspected murderer. He seems like the only one of the fie who could fulfill the prophecy.

Something whistles past my ear, and I see a group of vampires hurrying towards the main entrance, and one of them with a flower pot in is hand, evidently ready to throw something else at me. Theo quickly closes the main door and ocks it, but that won't keep the vampires out for long. We search several of the doors, looking for a good place to hide, but the majority are locked and those that aren't are merely cabinets holding coffins. I'm not ready to hide with a dead man just yet.

Theo then tries a door, and calls for me when it opens. I go in and see plenty of things to barricade the door with, and the window is barred. A perfect place for us to hide until daylight. If we survive that long. Curses upon irresponsible teenage Slayers!

"Giles" says Theo, in a low murmur "I'm going to go and get Buffy and the others. we can't fight all of them by ourselves."

I grab his arm, trying to restrain him from this folly. Good fighter he may be, but can he outfight a dozen vampires? I doubt it. "You can't! It would be madness, suicide, to fight all of those vampires! Our only chance is to wait for the dawn."

With a twist of his arm, Theo wrenches his wrist free. "We'll see." he says, with a feral, fey grin on his face that almost made me pity the vampires. Almost.

I pull the door shut as he sprints towards the front door, which is slowly splintering under the onslaught of the vampires attack. Barricading it as best I can, I listen for the sounds I hope I won't hear -Theo's death cry. I hear the sound of the door creaking open, of snarls and then several thumps. Then silence. Then a howl of frustration. I struggle not to let out a whoop of joy, as I hope that the vampires will think that I to have escaped, at least for a time. This door won't bear up for long, even barricaded as it is.

Buffy, you'd better get here soon!

Buffy

I'm walking into the Bronze, accompanied by a handsome young man. How often I have dreamed that something normal like this would happen in my life, that I wouldn't be just another Slayer, doomed to forever rid the world of evil. Can't a girl have some fun?

I feeling of hapiness and contentment vanishes as I see Angel lurking by the bar. Nothing ever good happens when he's around. I ignore the fact that my heart had started to beat faster as soon as I had seen him.

Well, I came here for fun, so why not have some fun? Even if Owen is no Angel, that's no reason not to dance.

A new song starts to play, and I turn to Owen and ask "May I have this dance". He responds with a grave bow, and courteously replies "Of course, milady. I am your loyal servant." I went giddy at the implications of that.

He leads me out onto the dance floor, and we dance. I struggle not to step on his toes, but he dances gracefully, and I begin to suspect he may have taken lessons. No one is that good withou practice.

All too soon, the dance is over, and I reluctantly admit to myself that I must go and see what Angel wants. I mutter to Owen that I'm going toget some drinks, as an exuse to speak to him. As I weave my way towards him, I notice Theo weaving his way towards me. Wasn't he supposed to be with Giles? I do hope that nothing bad has happened, although it probably has, knowing my luck.

Theo reaches me first and grabs me by the arm, stopping me going further towards Angel. "Giles is in trouble. About a dozen vampires came when we were looking aoun the funeral home, and Giles had tp barricade himsef in a room. I doubt he will be able to hold out for long." Isn't that just my luck! And there's no way out of it, either. I'll just have to call the date off.

"Buffy." Says a deep voice which makes my pulse race. Angel had come over fom the bar. I almost didn't want to turn around, so I could savour the feeling of having him behind me. Nevertheless, I turn around, and my heart beats even harder, if it were possible. He continues with what he was saying, as though nothing had happened - which of course it hadn't. He couldn't possibly hear my heart beat, that would be absurd. "There's something important happening with the vampires tonight, but I'm not sure what. You should be out there patrolling, not in here, with a date" He almost spat out the last word. Surely he can't be jealous?

Theo, who I had almost forgotten was there, buts in. "Angel, can you fight vampires?" Angel looks at him, and a bemused expression flickers across his face, and his nose wrinkles. Then he recovers his composure, and nods. "Good, we could use your help. A group of them have a friend of ours trapped in the funeral home. Unless we get there soon, it will be too late."

Angel nods again, then gestures outside. "Come on, my car's outside."

Outside, we walk over to a lovely black car. I'm not sure what type it is, being a girl and therefore not interested in cars, but it certainly looked good, and no doubt cost a lot of money. He's rich and handsome - and has a vast amount of weapons on the back seat, as I see when he chivalrously opens the door for me. He has to be my perfect man.

He lets me sit in the front seat, and becaus this is an emergency and he doesn't have time to move the weapons to the boot, Theo is forced to sit crouched by the weapons, being careful not to cut himself.

Then, with a purr, the engine starts, and we're off at break-neck speed. Look out vampires, here we come!

All too soon, we arrive and get out. I pull out my trusty stake, Angel a sword and a stake - he can sword fight as well! - and Theo a quarterstaff. I kick down the doors of the home, which no doubt the vampires locked behind them. The doors, being no match for Slayer strength, splinter and break. I cautiously push the door, and quite rightly, as four vampire some rushing out at us. The first quickly falls to a strike with my stake, and the second loses his head to Angel. The remaining two, seeing how tough we were, converge on Theo. With a blur and a sickening crack, one of them falls to the ground, clutching at his broken collar bone. The other Theo sweeps of his feet, and Angel rushes in to stake it. I stake the one who is still on the floor, groaning in pain. What a formidable team we make! Four down, eight to go.

Following the sounds of the crunching of breaking wood, we quickly locate the remainder of the group. Quietly, we sneak up behind them, and they remain oblivious to our presence. They've got blood lust, and are focused on the door and the prize that lies beyond it. Nothing else matters to them. Angel and I stake two before they even turn around, and by then we are among them, and it is too late for them. Angel decapitates two with one sweep, And I stake another, but the last three have all converged on Theo, who seems to be having some difficulty because the passage is too narrow to swing the quarterstaff hard enough to break bones, and so he is just blocking there attacks with blindingly fast motions, calmly waiting for us to come and finish them off, which we quickly do. Then the door gently creeps open, and Giles' bespectacled face peers out at us. When he sees who it is, he rushes out and engulfs me in a hug.

This is somewhat awkward, especially in front of Angel. Angel murmurs something about "Leaving the two of you alone", and leaves. Theo passes him his quarterstaff before he goes.

Then Giles draws away and says "We've still got to look for - " He gets interrupted by call of "Hey, Buffy! What are we doing here? How come you didn't tell me you were coming here?" It was Owen, who I'm beginning to think may be mentally deficient. Who would follow me to a funeral home, of all places, and act as though it was something of great fun? And now for Buffy and the amazing excuse... Except my mind has gone blank. I've got nothing.

"Owen, Mr. Giles and I came down to see an old friend of ours who recently died, but somehow managed to lock himself in one of the rooms. Buffy, who's an intern here, has a key, and so I went and got her to unlock the door. But we still haven't seen the recently deceased, and so Buffy is going to show us the way." Theo to the rescue! That's a better excuse than any I could've made.

Owen, reinforcing my new found opinion of his intelligence, asks "Can I come? I've always wanted to see a funeral home at night." Giles mutters "What can you expect from someone who has Dickinson as comfort blanket? She's a very morbid poet." Then, in a louder voice, he says "No, this is a private matter. You should go home, it's late and it's a school night." With a disappointed sigh, Owen, turns and slouches off into the night. I'm definitely going to be breaking up with him tomorrow.

Giles continues with what he was going to say before he was so rudely interrupted. "As I was going to say, we still need to find the Anointed One. He should be around here somewhere." Then we hear a roar and a crash somewhere in the distance. No doubt that's him. Why can't the forces of evil ever have a small person as their champion? They always have to be some sort of giant, like Luke was.

I sigh. "Let's go investigate." I say, reluctantly. I feel as though weve had enough slaying for one night already.

We follow the sounds of incoherent bellowing and smashing, which shows him to be either a very disorientated vampire or a very angry one. Because he's a new born, probably both.

Then suddenly something erupts from the door next to me, smashing into me and knocking me against the wall. The impact makes my head swim for moment, and my arm ache, but nothing too serious. However, the vampire looming over me might be. With a maniacal laugh, he lifts me by my throat. Still dazed, I try to stuggle, but don't manage too well. "I will separate the wheat from the chaff, the blood from your veins. You will perish, so that I might live." he says in a deep, spooky voice. Then he suddenly pitches forwards, and the suffocating grip around my neck is loosened, allowing me to break free. Theo has jumped on his back, and is hitting him on the head with a metal bar. With a roar of pain and fury, the Anointed One reaches over his shoulder and unhooks Theo, then turns and hurls him into the room he had come from. Then he turns to me again, a creepy grin on his vampire face. But i'm not so helpless now, I kick him on the shin, but in his madness he doesn't care, and he grabs me by the arm that he had wounded earlier. He squeezes, and I howl in pain, and purple spots dance before my eyes.

A cracked voice comes from behind him "Why don't you pick on someone else, you big bully." It's Theo, standing in the doorway, blood on his face from a cut just above his eye, and his left arm hanging loose. It looks dislocated. With anothor roar of anger, the Anointed One charges as him. Just before impact, Theo crouches, presenting his dislocated shoulder. With a harsh shriek of pain, he uses the vampires momentum to life him up, over his head, and slam him down onto the ground behind him. Now it's the vampire's turn to be dazed. Taking advantage of it, I rush in and stake him, then collapse on the floor.

Giles lifts me up, and then moves over to Theo. With a quick movement, he grabs his arm and pulls, and with an animalistic cry from Theo, his shoulder is reset. "Come on, I'll drive you home." says Giles.

I'm glad the night is over. I'm tired, aching and injured, and I want nothing more than a nice sleep. I'll talk to Willow and Xander about tonight tomorrow, and as for Mom... I'll just say I fell down some stairs or something. I just want to be home.

End of Book Four.


	18. Chapter 18

There I was, just minding my own business, heading for the reptile house, when I get accosted by Kyle and his gang of cronies. If you were to imagine someone more annoying than Cordelia, and a bunch of people who think like him, this is what you'd get.

"Hey, look! It's Buffy and all her friends." he says, with much snickering. I forgot to mention that their sense of humour is on a par with Xander's, at his worst. One of them, the other boy (I Don't know any of their names, and nor do I care what they are) says, in a mock-curious voice "Don't you ever wonder why none of the cool people hang out with you?" Beginning to get annoyed now, I answer more snappily than i otherwise would've. "Cool people? What cool people? Do you mean people like you? Then it's because I think you're all stupid and shallow."

Their sniggering cuts off abruptly, and I can almost feel the tension in the air. Perhaps these guys are more dangerous than I gave them credit for. I've never gotten in a fight with a human before - I'll have to be careful not to hit too hard.

Then another one of them, the blond girl, says "Look out, maybe she'll beat us up!" and makes those scary ghosty noises people always make at such times. The tension disappears, as do they. No doubt they've gone to find someone else to torment.

"D'you know what?" I mumble to myself. "I think I'll go see the elephants instead." I walk off in that direction.

The elephants were having a bath, squirting water all over themselves with their trunks. Most people, with their everyday lives, want to do something interesting, to be someone interesting. I envied the animals their freedom, even these ones, in their cages. They never have to worry about saving the world, and still have to go trough the rigmarole of secrecy. Most other people want to be someone like me, but I'd settle for being a cat. I like cats.

My ruminations were interrupted by an excited Willow and Xander. "Buffy!" says Willow, bobbing up and down in her excitement. "You missed it! It was amazing - a striped Heimlich maneuver!" I'm left thinking, once again, that Willow needs to get out more. I turn to Xander, who seems more calm. "What is it that I missed?" I say, out of politeness. I'm sure that, whatever it was, I could live without out it. But hey, sometimes one's gotta socialise. "Mating zebras" he says. I raise an eyebrow. I can bet that Willow is so excited mainly because she saw it with Xander, and he wants to share it with me in case - woah, not going there. "I'm sure I'll live without it."

Willow, having calmed down somewhat, says "Buffy, you don't seem to be enjoying the zoo much. What's wrong?" How do I explain the melancholy feeling I get when I try to be normal, knowing that later tonight I'll be out on patrol again, Slaying as many vampires as I can? I can't. "Well, it's just that, at my old school, we went on this same trip every year to the zoo, and it's really nothing special anymore." Willow looks at me pityingly, as though i don't understand anything. I know that face well - usually from whenever she helps me with, well, lets face it, any of my subjects. I wonder what it is this time. "It's not just because we're with a zoofull of animals, its because we're not at school!" This thought instantly cheers me up. I smile, and reply "You're right. That really puts it in perspective."

Then I see Theo, coming out of the bat enclosure, head down over the new sketch pad I gave him as a present for helping with the Anointed One. He'd healed really well from that, and it was only a week ago. He somehow managed to negotiate is way towards us without looking up or bumping into anything, sketching at the same time. It's a shame he never lets us see any of his drawings, I want to know what it is that he's always doodling.

Kyle and his gang made a reappearance, coming from another direction. Seeing Theo, and thinking he would be an easy target, one of them produced an apple and threw it, straight at his head. I was about to cry out a warning, but with incredible speed, he impales the apple on his pencil, and takes an enormous bite out of it. I can hear the crunch all the way over here. Kyle and his gang look surprised, but quickly get over it, and settle on Lance, a geek with an armful of papers, making notes on the monkeys. Being the sort of person who naturally dislikes bullies, I make my way over there, in order to put a stop to it.

They lean on the fence on either side of him, cornering him like a mouse. One of them makes an extremely unamusing crack about how this must be a family reunion, and then Kyle swoops down and steals his vast quantity of papers. "D'you want them back, little monkey?" he says. He pauses for a moment, no doubt to think of soeme task for Lance to do in order to get it back. I see his eyes settle on the sign saying "Hyena House: Do not enter. Quarantine in effect." "Well Lance, it looks like this is your lucky day. You come with us into there, and you can have all you're stuff back." Lance looks afraid - I don't think he's ever broken a rule in his life. He stutters "Bu-but it's off limits." Kyle snorts with laughter, and his sycophantic cronies all join in. Kyle says, in a fasely jovial voice, "And therein lies the fun!"

He heads into the Hyena House, ducking under the sign. His gang follows, and after a moment of hesitation, so does Lance.

I make a move to go in after him, but Xander puts a hand on my arm, saying "I'll handle this. It doesn't need any actual Slaying."

Xander

What a foolish thing to do! I would've kicked myself, if I hadn't been so sure that Kyle's gang wasn't about to do it for me. I've got to stop trying to show off to Buffy - it'll only get me hurt.

I hear Lance's voice somewhere up ahead of me. I'd better spped up if I'm going to stop them feeding him to the hyenas. Not that they'll actually do that... Oh God! I hope they don't do it to me!

I enter a big, round room, with a crude drawing of a hyena painted on the floor. Kyle is holding lance up against the edge of the railing, making as though to throw him in. I stride up, and pull him away. Maybe a little too hard - he went sprawling on the floor. The hyena growls, and I turn to look at it. I swear that it looked like, just for a moment, as though it's eyes flashed green...

Willow

"Xander's late. He should've been here by now!" I say to Buffy, as we look for a table in the Bronze later that night. Buffy replies nonchalantly "Yes, but that would make him on time. And that would never happen."

Nevertheless, I'm still worried, and I wonder if there'll ever be a time when I am not. "Didn't you notice him on the bus back today? He was really quiet." Buffy thinks for a moment, then answers with "No, I can't say I did notice. But then again, I'm not hyperaware of him as, hmm, let's think... You." she grins at this last pronouncement, and I feel myself grinning in response. Buffy continues "Yes, I don't monitor his mood swings, his temperature, his heart rate..." She's got me there, I actually do all those things when I get the chance. "You've got it bad, girl!" Buffy exclaims.

Then Theo appears out of nowhere, sketchbook tucked under his arm and pencil tucked behind his ear. He must move like a cat! Oh no, please tell me he didn't just hear what we were talking about: he might tell Xander, and I'd get all flustered and laughed at and our friendship would be ruined. Okay, take deep breathes Willow, he might not of heard anything, he might not tell Xander, calm down.

He sits down at a chair in between us, and pulls out his sketchpad , oblivious to the conversation he had just butted into and quickly ruined. Then, a couple of seconds later, and out of the blue, he says "I think it's sweet." I almost passed out right there. He knows, oh Yahweh, he knows! "What is?" I ask feebly, hoping against hope that he's talking about something entirely unrelated. "You and Xander" he replies, quite calmly. If only there was a me and Xander. Then I wouldn't be like this.

"You won't tell him, will you?" I ask, my voice faint. He looks up from his drawing, his face concerned. He obviously hadn't expected me to be like this. "Not if you don't want me to." I breath a sigh of relief, and just in time, too, because Xander arrives, looking as gorgeous as ever.

"People!' he cries out, as he approaches us. "Person!" Buffy replies. Xander remains hovering around the edge of the table, then says "Sorry I'm late, I... Just forgot, I guess." Then he sees Buffy's croissant. "Hungry!" He exclaims, seizing it at taking a massive mouthful out of it, which he barely manages to swallow before returning the remains to Buffy's plate. "Pah! I can't eat this! Birds live on this." Then he absently leans over and loudly sniffs Buffy's hair. At this outrageous behaviour, even Theo looks up from his drawing, looking at Xander incredulously. Buffy twists her neck to look up at him "What are you doing now?" she asks him, suspiciously. He doesn't answer. In the depths of my heart, I begin to wonder if maybe I've done something, I don't know what, to make him act like this.

"What's wrong?" I ask, and before I can stop myself, "Was it something I did?" Now it's his turn to look at me incredulously "What could you do? That's crazy talk. I'm just feeling kind of restless" Buffy, in an attempt to steer the subject away from any strangeness of Xander's, points out that Kyle's gang, or "The winged monkeys" as she called them, were approaching.

They come over, and all of them stare at Xander. He stares back at them. I wonder what happened between them in the Hyena House? They continue staring ofr about thirty seconds then leave and go scare away boy from a table. They loom over him, and one of them says "I don't understand why you're sitting at our table." The boy scrambles to get away from them, nearly falling over in the process. Another one of the gang says "Yeah, shouldn't you be hovering over our football pitch saying "Go Razorbacks go?". The rest of them laugh, a strange, high pitched laughter unlike any laughter I've heard before. Then my heart almost stopped, when I heard the same high pitched, eerie laugh coming from right next to me. Xander.

I've got to speak to Giles in the morning. I think he must be possessed, or a changeling, or something strange. I've never seen him act like this before.

He stops laughing when he sees the expressions on our faces, but it was replaced by a sneer that was almost as horrible as the laugh.


	19. Chapter 19

Buffy

Sometimes, I love training with Giles. My favourite is when I get to use him as a punching bag, like today. Even covered in padding, he still complains. I'm sure he's not hurt that badly... even if he is, he should pay for a punching bag.

I feel like working on my kicks - I like kicking people. I don't know why, but it just seems more fun. I start with a roundhouse kick , and am rewarded by an "Oof" from Giles, which I follow up with a spinning back kick, and, just for fun, an middle punch and a snap kick. I thought the last kick wasn't up to form, but Giles disagreed. In fact, he almost pleaded for me to stop kicking him.

"That's enough, Buffy." he wheezes, as though it had been him who had done the actual fighting."You run along to class." He pants, his hands on his knees. "While I recover the feeling in my arms." he moans. I consider teasing him for a moment, but think better of it. I've teased him often enough in situations like this, I think he'd appreciate a moment alone.

I leave the library, to be quickly engulfed by horde of screaming girls, scurrying away from something. It can't be vampires, surely? It's day time! I decide it's my job as Slayer to investigate such commotions.

However, there's no need for a big search, as the terror soon finds me. It's a small piglet, with a cute little helmet, and foam tusks and spines on his back. Girls these days must be really wimpy to run away from something as cute as this. I scoop him up.

Flutie comes bustling up to me in his I'm-the-principle manner he has, Calling "Herbert! Herbert!" loudly. Then he sees the pig. "Herbert! You gave us quite a scare!" he turns around, ready to address the crowd of students who had come to watch the spectacle. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Herbert, our new school mascot!"

Amidst the storm of applause this announcement did not get, he turns to me and takes the pig away from me. He's a cute little thing. "Alright now, back to your cage." Flutie mutters to the pig, in what he probably meant to be a soothing voice.

Willow

I'm so glad that Xander seems to have gotten over that batch of weirdness he had last night. Mostly. He's still a little weird, but that's partly why I love him.

"I just don't get this!" he said, frustratedly, about the geometry I'm trying to help him with. He seems even more disinclined to be studious than normal. "It's giving me a headache." Then he brightens, the scowl caused by geometry leaving his face, to be replaced by a smile so radiant I couldn't resist smiling back.

"I know just the cure for headaches." He stands up, picks up his geometry book and strides over to a bin, which he, with the same, high pitched eerie laugh from last night, throws his work into. The laugh sends shivers down my spine, just as it did last night. I hope he gets over whatever's happening to him soon - I want the old Xander back, Buffy-watching and all.

"Xander!" I say to him in an admonishing tone. "We've talked about this - if you flunk your subjects, you'll end up living in your parents basement for the rest of your life, and become an alcholic and die all alone. Remember? You don't want that to happen."

"Willow, at this moment I do not care." Without even stopping to say goodbye, he scoops up his bag and leaves with it.

Just then, a smattering of rain drops start to fall. What a shame, and we have gym next. Looks like dodgeball, again. Just stay close to Buffy and away from Cordelia's gang and I should do fairly well. Hardly anyone ever tries to throw the ball at me. Hardly anyone ever notices me. Sometimes, I wish they would. At least Buffy and Theo and Giles and Xander - no, not Xander, not in the way I want. Rain always brings my spirits down. Further.

I make my way to the girls changing rooms, hoping to run into Buffy. I need to speak to her about Xander, I'm sure that he's going to do something, him and Kyle's gang, something that he'll regret.

I was worying so much that I literally bumped into Theo. "Are you all right? You seem just a little bit preoccupied." he says in a concerned tone. How nice of him not to mention that I'd almost just knocked him to the floor.

I thought about not mentioning Xander to him, because he's a boy and therefore unlikely to understand, but then I remembered that he already knew about me and Xander, and it would be useful to have another pair of eyes on Xander besides me an hopefully Buffy. I explain to him how I feel, somewhat wary in case he laughs or dismisses it. When I finish, he nods gravely, then sighs. "Looks like I'll actually have to go to gym today." before now, I hadn't realized that I'd never seen him at gym before. "Why don't you normally go?" I ask curiously, grateful for the distraction. He shrugs, then says "Well, it's kind of pointless, isn't it? I mean, I'm a healthy... person." he hesitates, just for a moment, before saying person. He's got even more insecurities than I do. Then he smiles, a mischevious smile that I normally only see on Xander when he's about to pull some sort of prank. "Anyway, there was something I want to try out." he says, as he heads for the boys changing room. Suddenly, I feel a lot better.

"Too bad, it looks like it's raining. That can mean only one thing." says Coach Dawson, the gym teacher. "Dodgeball! For any of you who are incompetent, foolish or just don't attend my lessons..." here he stares pointedly at Theo, who shrugs. "...There is only one rule: dodge! Let the game begin."

We separate into two sides. Xander is on the opposing side, standing with Kyle's cronies. Strangely, he looks as though he fits in. I've never seen him fit in anywhere before. He throws a ball, easily picking off one of my team, while Buffy picks of one of their's. He's never been coordinated before either. Then suddenly a ball gets thrown up high, bounces of one of the beams supporting the ceiling and bounces down to take out one of Xander's team. I look around to see who made that shot, and see Theo, with another ball in his hands, mouthing something silently to himself, looking upwards at the ceiling. Looks like we've got two dodgeballers on our team. I look back - right at a ball heading for me. It hits me in the shoulder, and see Xander with that detestable smirk on his face. I look at him, hurt and confused, then stride off in a huff. I never, in any of my worries, thought that Xander might actually hurt me.

Then, suddenly, a rain of high thrown balls bounce off the ceiling, all aimed at Xander. Looks like Theo's going to get him back. However, with startling alacrity, Xander dodges out of the way, and the balls bounce haphazardly in all directions, taking out most of the opposing team. Theo, distracted, takes a hit from Kyle's blond friend.

It's just Buffy, Xander, and the Kyle's left now. Oh, and Lance, who I hadn't seen hiding behind everyone else. His teammates turn on him, viciously pelting him. They laugh, that grating high laugh that sends prickles up my spine and makes my teeth hurt.

After we've gotten changed, I decide it's time to confront Xander over his horrible behaviour. Buffy's aleady gone to Giles to see if he's been possessed with something - I hope he has! But just in case he hasn't...

I march up to him, not caring that his new pack is with him. "Xander, I need to talk to you for a moment." I say, with a boldness I don't feel. He just stares at the others for a moment, and they back away, going to the other end of the corridor, but not leaving entirely. I'd feel much better if they would.

I cross my arms and attempt to glareat him sternly. "What's wrong with you?" I ask, hoping with all my heart that he has a good reason for acting this way. "So, you've noticed I've been a little different around you lately." I nod, not trusting myself to speak. "I... Willow, I think my feelings for you... I think they're changing." I stop breathing. Could this be the moment I've waited years for? "I've goot something to tell you." he continues. I wait expectantly. "I've decided to drop geometry." What? "That means I won't have to look at your ugly, pasty face again." He laughs that evil laugh, as do hs cronies down the end of the corridor.

"Leave her alone." comes a voice from behind me that's so cold I could almost feel icicles drop off it. Suddenly, a thin figure appears in front of me, proecting me from Xander and is cruel smirk and his cruel words. Theo. Xander smirks at him, then draws back his fist and smashed him in the face - didn't smash him in the face.

As fast as Xander had been, Theo had been still faster. In a movement I hadn't even seen, he had sidestepped the blow, and now had his hands on his arms in such a way that, as I knew from watching Buffy train, could, with a little pressure, dislocate his shoulder. He repeats himself in the same frigid voice. "Leave her alone." Xander, that sneer finally gone from his face, rips his arm free and goes to join his pack, who were all glaring menacingly at Theo. They leave with Xander.

Theo turns to me, his eyes full of concern. "Are you alright?" he asked softly. Everything that had just happened, everything he had just said, came crashing back to me. I could here his words echoing in my ears, over and over. _"I won't have to look at your ugly, pasty face again."_ I can't face reassuring words. I just want to be alone. I turn and flee, heading for a girls bathroom. Somewhere he can't follow. I find one and lock the cubicle door behind me. I'm glad there's no one here. No one to hear me cry.

Moments later, whilst I was waiting for the torrent of tears to overcome me and for me to submerge into a gail of tears, after which I would usually feel a little better, I heard the door creak open. Surely he couldn't have gone and gotten Buffy to come in after me already? No, that would be too fast, even for him. It has to be someone who just needs the loo.

"Willow?" I hear a voice calling softly. A male voice. He did follow me after all. I don't answer. Maybe he would go away if he thought I wasn't here. "I don't really know what to say in circumstances like this. In fact, most of the time I don't know what to say, to you or anyone else... But you don't want my problems on top of yours. You probably don't want me to talk about those either, but I will not just leave you here to bawl your eyes out." he says, and I find myself listening to his melodic accent, staring at the grain of the wooden door, anything to distact myself from those horrible words.

"You see, I think your problem is that you grew up together. You are best friends - almost like siblings. Then your feelings changed. You began to see him as more than a brother. He didn't. Until Buffy came, that was good enough for you, you still had him as a friend. But Buffy took him away from you, leaving you alone. You no longer had him all to yourself - and Buffy is no replacement, what with Slaying and all that stuff."

It's true. All true. Every word, but how I wish it wasn't. Then why do the words make me feel better? Shouldn't they make me feel worse? I guess It's because there is finally someone who understands, who shares a measure, no matter how small, of what I'm going through. I unlock the cubicle door,and step outside. I'm ready now, ready to excorsise Xander or do whatever needs doing. No more weeping Willow.

Theo's there, leaning against a sink. "Are you alright?" he asks me again. "I am now"

Xander

I smell meat! "Dog!" I call. "Where?" asks Kyle. Somewhere over there. No need to say it out loud - the pack will follow me there.

I see a couple of boys, hmm what are there names, doesn't matter, food! I snatch on of their hotdogs, as do Tor and Heidi. Strange, I never knew their names before. They take an enormous bite. "Good? I enquire. "Overdone." replies Tor. He and Heidi throw the 'dogs in boys faces. They say something, but I don't care about there whines. A new scent has reached my sensitive nose - pig. From inside.

I lead the pack again, following my nose. We arrive at a small room. I fling open the door, to reveal a little piglet, squealing in terror. I throw back my head and laugh, as do the rest of the pack. "Lunch."

Buffy

Giles, for a person deeply involved in the mystical world, isn't always the most believing person. One might even call him skeptical.

"So, Xander's taken to teasing the less fortunate?" says Giles, pacing up and down amongst the stacks. I nod. "Noticeable changes in clothes and demeanor?" I think for a moment before answering this one, because I've forgotten what demeanor means. I guess behaviour, and nod again. "Spends his time in the company of fools?" "Yes." I reply. "It's bad, isn't it." I ask worriedly.

"It's devastating. I'm afraid he's turned into a normal 16-year-old boy. You'll have to klll him." Gah! I wanted help, not jokes! I throw a handily nearby pencil at him, but miss wildly. "I'm serious, Giles!" I say, with perhaps a little whine creeping in. "So was I. Apart from the killing bit." Seeing my expression, he hastily continues, hoping to say something that'll mean he isn't the target of a better aimed pencil. "It's natural for teenage boys to prey on the weak, they've always done it and always will. Testosterone -" I interrupt him. Something has just clicked in my mind. Damn, why didn't I think of that before? "Giles, he's been different ever since he visited the Hyena House at the zoo! They all have. Could that have something to do with it?" I ask, desperate for any reason other than the mundane. Ha, this is probably the only time I'll ever think that. Normally, I long for normal.

"You think he's turning into a Hyena? I've never heard of anything like that... Anyway, my occult animal section is over there." He gestures towards the main library. I wonder if he has a section for everything?

"Okay, lead the way." I say. He does so, leading us very near the part of the library where we usually meet. So close, in fact, that I can hear voices. I decide to go over and investigate - people other than us in the library is always strange, and that's the last thing we need right now. I peer around the bookcases, and see Willow and Theo, sitting close together with their backs turned to me, poring over what seems to be one of his sketchpads.

Willow, a few minutes earlier.

"Let's go see Giles, maybe he knows what to do about Xander. Buffy must have talked to him by now - there has to be something we can do." I say. Theo looks at me, somehow seeing what I've kept hidden, that this is just a distraction, away from those words. But I have to, if we can cure him I'll know if the words are true.

"Take a few minutes till you feel a little better. We can deal with Xander then. Come, let's go to the library. I'll make you some coffee." he says, in a gentle tone. Coffee suddenly seems like a good idea. "Okay, let's go." I say curtly. He smiles and opens the door, revealing the large handwritten "OUT OF ORDER" sign he had hung on the door. I snort with laughter, and he looks at me quizzically, then at the sign. He smiles again.

"Why did you come after me? Why did you go to all that trouble? I would've been fine after a few minutes." I ask him, as we walk towards the library. He pauses, perhaps unsure of what to say. He sighs, a melancholy sigh. "Willow, I've never had a friend before - not that I can remember. I get flahes of the past sometimes, more recently than when I first came here, but they're not mine. I have this vague memory, one which I don't understand "I surround myself with myself."" I look at him, waiting for him to get to the point. He obviously sees the look and cuts short his ramble. "What I'm trying to say is, you're my friend, Willow. I don't want to see you hurt. If I can stop it, I will."

He's so sweet! Then the library doors loom ahead, putting an end to this conversation for now. We go in, and he pulls out a seat for me at the big table in the centre of the room, and gestures for me to sit in it. Then he disappears somewhere, no doubt to make coffee. I find myself on my own, looking around absently and not thinking of anything much.

My eyes alight on something which looks like one of Theo's sketchbooks in front of me, and I feel the urge to peek in. It's not as though he had ever forbidden it - he'd just never offered and I'd never asked. I glance around to see if he'd come back, then pick it up and open it on the first page.

It's not precisely what I expected. Oh, there are sketches, mainly faces of people I don't know, with caption underneath them in an illegible scrawl. But there are calculations, things so complicated I couldn't even begin to understand, titled in a fine, slowing script so different from the other that I wondered how they could be by the same person. There were several designs for perpetual motion machines, a calculation of the amount of energy given off by a lightning bolt after traveling through three miles of copper wire -

My perusal was interrupted by Theo's return with coffee. "So, you found my idea book." he doesn't sound displeased at all, which is a relief. I nod, and he says "Turn to the last page.", and comes and sits next to me, close enough to see the sketch.

I do so, and am shocked by an amazingly detailed drawing of my face, and a small cluster of Xander-faces. My face has a wide smile on it, but there's a unnoticed tear falling from my eye. The Xander-faces look in every direction but at me.

I hear a cough from behind, me, and I crane my neck to see Buffy, looking at us with an amused smile on her face. She's stopped from saying anything by the arrival of Giles, with a book under his arm. "I've got it!" he cries triumphantly. He launches into an explanation about primals and people wanting to be possessed by animal spirits, especially those of carnivores. I confess I wasn't paying the most attention - I was more preoccupied with that sketch. How did Theo know me well enough to draw what he did? It didn't help that Buffy kept looking at me and Theo with an amused half-smile.

Cordelia comes rushing into the room, completely interrupting Giles' explanation. "I need a book." she blurts out. Giles looks at her, surprised "Well, you've come to the right place. What do you need?' he asks. Cordelia pauses a moment, then says 'Oh, what's the name of that really long book? Oh yes. 'War and Peace'". I ask, in an incredulous tone "You? 'War and Peace'?" She nods, and then, obviously wondering if she cares enough to tell me, says it's to impress some boy. Figures.

Then, she says "Did you here about the pig? It's horrible". I decide not to mention that she's so insensitive that she wouldn't even know horrible if it hit her on the nose - something I have often considered doing. She must be talking about the new school mascot. "No, what happened?" asks Theo, in a bland tone, indicating that he doubts anything Cordelia says could possibly be interesting, and he's just being polite. Being insensitive, she doesn't notice.

"He got eaten. Flutie's freaking out - apparently someone saw Kyle's groupies hanging around there. I wouldn't want to be in their shoes!" she says, in a sing-song voice. Giles silently hands her her book, and she waltzes out.

Kyle

Been called to Flutie's office with the rest of the gang. What a drag. Hungry - pig wasn't much, and the boss ate most of it. He doesn't have to come. Oh look, there's the door.

I push it, and go in. Flutie nearly falls over from the surprise. I smirk. Then he calms down, and gets angry. "Do you know the kind of trouble you're in!" he shouts, cheeks vibrating, finger pointed at me. My smirk kicks up a notch. "You're going to be expelled. In fact I'm going to call the police. Right now!" He lifts the phone. Don't need more complications - I grab it from his hand and crush it. Flimsy phone.

I call his name, softly. The others echo me, sidle round behind him. He doesn't know where to look. I can taste his fear.

The hunger flares up inside, and I signal the others. It's time to eat - and Flutie's a lot more juicy than that pig, and the boss isn't here to get the lion's share.


	20. Chapter 20

Buffy

I'm off to see the scene of Herbert's murder. Can a pig be murdered? Anyway, there might be some clues - perhaps we're wrong and it's not Xander at all. Maybe he's just going through something. Gods, I'm starting to sound like Willow. Speaking of Willow, I wonder what's going on between her and Theo? They seemed awfully close before I interrupted...

Focus! This is always the problem, I just can't stay focused or serious. However, the room which held Herbert's cage had a very sobering and focusing effect. His cage had been ripped open, and there were fleck of blood on the cage and on the floor. I hadn't expected them to be so strong - I should've guessed. I'd seen the way Xander had moved when Theo had thrown those balls at him. There's no way he should've been able to dodge those. Even I would've had difficulty.

I step forward, and hear a sickening crunch under foot. I look down before I can stop myself, and thank the gods that fighting vampires for a few years had eliminated all my squeamishness. I'd just stepped on Herbert's ribcage. These are a pair of shoes I won't be wearing again in a hurry.

There's evidently nothing here, all I've learnt is that there stronger than your average human and like raw meat. I turn to leave, and let out an involuntary gasp when I see Xander leaning nonchalantly on the doorframe, staring at me intently. I try to go round him, but he gets in the way.

Knowing now that this isn't Xander, I try to distract him. "Xander, we need to talk." On "talk" I jump at him, knocking him to floor. I pin his arms to his sides. he doesn't struggle, just looks at me with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "I've been waiting for you to jump me." Looks like being possessed hasn't effected his sense of humour. "You like dangerous guys, don't you?" he continues, as though he doesn't care that I've got him pinned down. "Like Angel." That name makes me feel as though an ice cube had slipped down my back. I rarley even dare to think about him, let alone talk about him, and to hear his name bandied about... it's almost profane. "Well, guess who's dangerous now?" he says, his smirk now so big it threatened to split his face in half.

Then, suddenly he flips somehow, and now it's him on top of me. "Get off!" I groan. He's surprisingly heavy, and I could barely breathe. He shakes his head. "It's better like this. Do you know how long I've waited for you to admit your attracted to me?" I headbut him on the nose, and he shifts just enough for me to wriggle out from under him. Oh, I didn't want that thought.

Even though he's possessed, it's still Xander's body, and I don't want to hurt it. I tell him so. In a quick motion he gets to his feet and slams me against the wall, pressing me there with his body. He smirks again. "Do you want to hurt me now?" he asks archly.

I kneed him in the groin, and when he doubled over in pain I hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out. Now for the troublesome task of getting him back to the library without anyone noticing an unconscious Xander being carried across my back. Shouldn't be too hard, everyone should be in lessons now. All this Slaying and occult business really doesn't help my attendance record. I wonder what Willow and Theo are doing back in the library now?

It only takes me a few minutes for me to get to the library, and fortunately no one sees me. I realise that I probably spent more time there than I do in class. At least, when my mom asks me what I've been doing, I can honestly say I was doing something educational. After all, learning about monsters is educational, and I am doing it in a library.

I get in, and Willow spins around on one of those wheelie chairs they have by the computers. She'd been watching a documentary about hyenas, by the look of things. Neither Giles nor Theo were any were to be seen.

When Willow sees what I'm carrying, her hand flies to her mouth and she gasps in shock. "Is he okay? Did he do anything? Did you do anything? Is he really possessed?" she babbles. "Yes, he tried to but failed, I knocked him out, and yes, he is." I answer swiftly. He's rather heavy and I'd really like to put him down about now. "Do you think you could find Giles and get him to open the book cage? I definitely want him in it when he wakes up."

"We don't need Giles - he told me where the key is." She replies, as she goes to get it. As she does, she asks "What did he try to do to you?" innocently. I really think that she doesn't know what he tried to do. I decide not to enlighten her as to the details, and settle for saying "Let's just say that his attentions were a little more agressive then romantic, alright?" She seems to grasp my meaning and doesn't ask any more questions.

At this point, Theo comes ambling in from somewhere in the stacks, holding a thin metal cylinder about a foot long. I decide not to ask what it is right now, because putting Xander in the cage is my priority. I put him in and slam the door, and Willow quickly locks it. We both put as much distance between him and us as we possibly can.

"I'm going to try and find the others, before they can hurt anyone else." I announce grandly, playing the part of a leader. "Willow, if you would guard the cage? I don't want him getting loose. Theo, you come with me. Together, we have a better chance of capturing them." I tell them my plan.

Theo shakes his head, and answers "What if they come back? What if the cage isn't strong enough to hold Xander, and he gets out and - eats - Willow? No, I'm staying here. If Willow wants to go with you, that's fine, but we need at least one fighting person to guard the cage." This is the first time anyone has ever contested one of my plans, and I find the sensation very disagreeable. Nevertheless, his plan makes sense, so I nod. Willow sits down, staring at the unconscious body of the man she loves as if she can will the hyena spirit out. Theo begins to pull lots of wire from his pockets, although God knows what he wants to do with it. I daren't ask, in case it seems stupid. I've already been shown up once today.

I leave on my quest.

Willow

So now I'm left on my own with Theo - unless you count an unconscious Xander. Normally, this wouldn't bother me, as we generally get on quite well, unlike him and Buffy. Buffy tends to avoids him, probably because he's a little strange. But then, aren't we all?

But now I'm a little uncomfortable around him, after he'd shown me that drawing. Most of the time he seems like he really doesn't understand relationships, and then he comes out with something like that! I don't think even Buffy, who's closer to me than anyone else, has noticed that the face I show the world isn't how I really feel.

Theo seems unbothered by all if this. He's busily threading some wire through the bars of the cage. "What are you doing?" I ask him curiously. "Making this cage more secure" he answers, without turning around. "How? If he can break through that, what makes you think some wire will make any difference?" he doesn't answer immediately, but finishes threading the wire. Them he rummages in his pockets, and pulls out a pair of rubber gloves, which he puts on. Them he pulls out a few batteries, and wraps the wire around them. He's making an electric fence!

"Where did Giles go?" he asks, still staring at the cage. I think trying to remember... "he said that there was an emergency staff meeting, or something. No doubt he'll be back in a minute." I say, then notice a preoccupied Giles walk in through the door.

"Hey, Giles, what's going on?" I ask, slightly worried in case some other evil has emerged in Sunnydale. We can really do without that right now. He looks at me as if he hadn't even noticed I was here - which he probably hadn't. Then he wearily sits down and prepares to explain.

"Kyle and his gang were spotted near Herbert's cage when he was eaten. They were called into the principles office." He begins. "Good, that'll show them!" I break in, excitedly. Then I notice his face, and realise it probably didn't. "It didn't did it." Giles says, in a voice that sounds as though it's owner has the weight of the world on his shoulders, "They ate him."

I exhale loudly, and even Theo was disturbed enough from his vigil to look around, before settling back. "At least it wasn't Xander. All he ate was pig." I say, trying to look for the silver lining. Giles' eyes settle briefly on the cage, but then he abrubtly sits upright, as though he'd suddenly got more energy from somewhere. "What is it?" I ask, equal parts concern and curiosity tinging my tone.

"I just realised that someone at the zoo has to know about the hyenas. Someone had to put up the sign and set up the quarantine. So, maybe, they will know of a way to exorcise the spirit. I haven't yet found any spells in any of my books, and it could take hours, or even days, to search through them all. We need help now." He says, whilst he gets up and looks for a coat. "I'm going to find him." And without further ado, he gets up and leaves. A few minutes later we hear the rumbling of his ancient car, as he drives off into the distance.

At last, we have a plan! I feel much better now. I settle down for a long night ahead of us.


	21. Chapter 21

"Willow." says a harsh, grating voice from behind me. I'd been watching hyena documentaries - there's only so long you can stare at an unconscious person. Unless, of course, you're Theo.

I spin around on one of those wheelie chairs (I love doing that, it's such fun), to see what all the commotion is. It's Xander, finally awake. He looks like hell, not at all like he did as a hyena. Maybe being knocked out had knocked the hyena spirit out of him? I can but hope.

"What happened?" he asked, in that same gravelly voice. "Buffy knocked you out." I answer, as i get up and go closer, ignoring Theo's cautionary glance. "Pah!" he snorts scornfully. "That's her solution to everything!".

"You're sick." I murmur in a consoling tone, edging nearer. I have to see if he really is still possessed. When I get close enough for him to be withing arms reach of me, he makes a lunge for the key hanging from my belt through a slit in the cage, but he brushes against the wire, and his arms jerks back, neatly hitting him in the stomach. Theo snorts with laughter, and I spin and look at him reprovingly. He stops, seeing the hurt expression on my face.

"They'll come for me, you know. You won't be safe." He says, his voice rougher than ever. I dismiss this as an idle threat, and turn back to my documentary, content in the knowledge that he won't get out.

Giles

I finally reached the zoo. Trafic is terrible, and I really need a new car, if I'm going to need to drive for emergencies like this. I'd found Buffy aimlessly walking around, looking for the hyena people. I'd picked her up, and she seemed happy that we had found a lead to follow.

We knock on the Zookeeper's door, and a voice from inside shouts "Come in!". We go in, and see a man with little hair and a short, wispy beard. Curiously unimpressive looking, and hardly inspiring. Suddenly I doubt that he knows what's going on, but who can tell? Buffy doesn't look as though she Slays vampires everynight. I fill him in on what's happened.

After I've finished, he asks, whilst stroking his wispy beard, "So, the students have been possessed by hyenas." Buffy and I nod. "You're sure?" He asks. His voice is deep for a person of his size. "We're really, really sure." says Buffy, flippantly.

Zookeeper gets up and starts pacing up and down, still stoking his beard. I want to cut it off. What right does a man have to a beard if he can't even grow it properly? "I knew there was something strange about them, right from the very beggining. There are all sorts of legends about them, and this group of tribesmen who worship them." He ruminates, speaking his thoughts aloud. "Primals" I interject, trying to seem helpful. He nods shortly.

"You say you have one in captivity?" he asks. I can see Buffy bristle at the implication that Xander is just an animal, and so I say "Yes." before she can say anything rash. "You'd better hope that it's well guarded, becuase once the rest of the pack has fed, they'll come back for it. They're rumoured to have many time the strength of a man." Buffy, not noticing that he had called Xander "it" stands up quickly, and heads for the door, calling over her shoulder "Willow and Theo are in trouble. We have to bring Xander here, and the others will follow. then we can excorsise them." She vanishes into the night.

I sigh. As slow as my car may be, it would get her there faster. The traffic should have abated by this late hour. I settle myself for helping Zookeeper prepare for the ritual.

Willow

I hear a voice, calling me softly "Willlloooow, Wiiiiiilllllllllloooooowwww" it went. Without looking around (I don't like seeing xander when he's in this state) I shout "Xander, cut it out." Then there's a sound of something falling over, and I spin around to see that Theo had stood up so fast that his fair had crashed to the ground. "Willow." he said cautiously, eyes peering into every shadow as he spoke "That wasn't Xander. Looks like he wasn't bluffing. His pack has come for him".

Suddenly, a glass shatters from high above, and there are several thumps. The pack are there, crouching, ready to spring, after there jump from the window. Theo sweeps a foot-long metal cylinder off of the table, and there's a click and suddenly it's about as tall as he is. "Willow." He calls softly, never taking his eyes off of the pack. "Get behind me, away fromt he cage. They won't hurt you if they think you're dangerous. But they will if you stop them getting to Xander." I silently obey. Now's not the time to contest orders.

One of them, in and odd, slouching gait, ambles over to the cage. It grips it then stumbles back with a whine at the electric shock. It turns in anger, and with a snarl leaps at Theo, who, with a casualness that makes it seem easy, knocks him out of the air and into a desk. He doesn't get up.

Then, suddenly, there's a roar of anger and a small blond projectile streaks through the doors, right into the midst of the pack, scattering them. Buffy. The pack is in disarray, one member caged and impotent, the unconscious. They flee. No doubt they'll be back soon.

"Right." says Buffy, taking charge as usual. "We need to take them to the zoo - once they're there, the rest will follow, and then we can sort ot this whole mess. Willow, give me the key." I started a little when she mentioned my name. I'd drifted off a little. "Key?" I ask, weakly. I guess it's shock. "Yes, the key. To the cage?" she says impatiently. With a blush, I hand her the key.

"Look out, the cage is-" shouts Theo, too late. Buffy had already put her hand on the cage, and jolted back by the shock. Quickly Theo detatches the batteries, and unlocks the door. Xander tres to leap past her for his freedom, but her fist lashes out and knocks him out. Again. Ouch, he's really going to have a massive headache in the morning.

"You take Xander" Buffy says to Theo in a peremptory tone "and I'll take him." She gestures to the other unconscious body. I've lost count of how many people have been knocked unconscious today. Theo sahkes his head, and says "I can't. I don't have Slayer strength, there's no way I can carry him all the way to the zoo without help. Willow, could you lend me a hand?" he asks. I nod, glad that he didn't order me. Sometimes this boss bussiness really gets on my nerves.

"What?" says Buffy, her voice soaring into the high registers of indignation. "I saw you knock that guy half way across the room. And I've seen the way you fight. There's no way that you do not have more than ordinary strength." Theo gives a sigh, then looks at Buffy as though she were some sort of simpleton. She colours under his gaze, but doesn't look away. "Leverage. If I hit something with a six-foot pole at a shallow angle, then it is easy to change the trajectory of a projectile. Hitting someone woth something long will have agreater effect than hitting something with something short. Same thing will all the other fights you've seen me in. Simple physics." Buffy, having already been shown up once, doesn't press the issue.

I take Xander's feet, Theo his arms, and Buffy the other guy over her shoulders. Like some sort of strange carnival procession, we make our way to the zoo.

Giles

"Hello? Mr. Zookeeper?" I call, in the Hyena House. He'd dissapeared mysteriously shortly after Buffy had left, and I had not the faintest idea what he was doing.

Suddenly, the lights turn on, and i hear footsteps behind me. I whirl around, and almost fall over when I see a cowled figure with a blue-and-white face, before I realise it's the Zookeeper in Primal ceremonial garb. "Good thinking" I compliment him. I'd forgotten about the outfit. "Thanks" he replies warmly.

"Are you fully prepared?" I ask him. "Almost" he answers absently, as he ambles over to a closet in the corner of the room. I look down, and see the red hyena head in a red circle that had been painted on the floor. The red of blood.

"Oh, so you've done the circle. That's good, because you... can't... do..." I wind down, and then stop speaking, becuase I've just realised something. You don't need all the ceremonial stuff, just the circle, the hyena, and a predatory act. The circle must have been here before.

The Zookeeper is a Primal.

I look up at him, leaning against the wall and grinning at me with a wolfish grin. "It must have galled you, that teenagers could do what you could not." He must not have known about the requisite violent action. "I admit, it got to me a little." he continues conversationaly, as though nothing had happened. "And now that you know..." suddenly his arm whips out, and I feel a sharp pain in my forehead, and then - darkness.

Buffy

Even for someone with Slayer strength, carrying someone for about a mile is no easy task. Even Theo and Willow were panting by the time we reach the Hyena House, and they only had one body between them.

We carry them in, to be met by the Zookeeper in spooky, African clothes and face paint. "Good, good!" he says delightedly. "Just put them in the middle of the circle." We do so, then sigh and stretch with relief. "Now, if you would just wait outside, and warn me when the others come...?" he says. "Where's Giles?" I ask him, wearily. "Oh, he'll be joining you shortly, don't worry about that." he says dismissively. We obediently head outside. Anything for the chance to sit down, even if for only a minute.

After a short time, we hear howling in the woods around us. What stupid person put a forest around a zoo? It would make tracking escaped animals all the harder. I have half a mind to complain. "Willow! Tell the Zookeeper that they're nearly here!" Willow hares off to do just that. It's nice being in command.

About a minute after she'd gone inside, the pack come bounding over to us. Without a signal, Theo and I turn in unison and run into the Hyena House, the pack close on our heels. We skid to a halt when we see that the Zookeeper has Willow tied up and a knife to her throat. She tries to warn us "It's a trap!" but it's too late. The pack has arrived.

Zookeeper begins chanting in some creepy African language, and the packs eyes flash green. They look around bewildered, as though unsure as to where they are or how they got here. I don't blame them.

"Then the Zookeeper eyes also flash green, and he drops the knife and stoops to bite Willow's neck. Before I could even make a move, Xander (he must have been woken by the spell), darts forward, but is knocked aside contemptously by the now possessed Zookeeper. This distraction is enough for Willow to escape.

I run forward cannoning into him. I must have overdone it a little, because we went much further than we intended. In fact, I pushed him all the way into the hyena cage. His despairing howl was cut short by a grisly crunch. Even hyenas have to eat.

The pack - or Kyle's gang, as I suppose it's reverted to - run away terrified. There's some muffled thumping from a closet in the corner, and then a bound and gagged Giles sprawls out onto the floor, an enormous purple bruise covering hs forehead. I'm guessing he'll be wearing a hat for the next few days. One that can cover the mark.

We did it!

"What happened?" asks a dazed Xander. I fill him in on all that had happened whilst he'd been possessed. "All I remember is a school trip, then some guy threatening Willow with a knife." he says. He seems to be in shock. I would be too, if I'd been told I'd done all those things. "You saved my life." Willow says, looking at him with shining eyes. "No one messes with my Willow!" he says, with his infectious, goofy grin. He envelopes her in a massive hug.

It's good to have the old Xander back.

End of Book 5


	22. Chapter 22

I sigh, disappointed that Angel's not here. I always look forward to his sporadic appearances, if if it's just to warn me that I'm in danger.

Willow, sitting opposite me, also sighs whilst she watches Xander go and get some drinks. Wow, we really have guy problems.

"Willow, I don't understand why you don't ask him out." I say, in an attempt to distract myself from the Angellessness that I feel. I like that word, its got so many l's and s's. Willow looks up briefly, from her close examination of the table, then replies in a morose voice "I don't want to ruin our frinedship. It's obvious he doesn't reciprocate, so why bother. Anyway, what about ou and Angel?" she responds, evidently trying to steer the conversation away from Xander-related topics.

"Angel?" I reply with mock surprise. "Yeah, because he'd be a really reliable guy in a relationship. "You're in danger. See you next month!" would basically be it." Then, in another attempt to leave the realm of moping after Angel, I say to her "Anyway, I don't think Xander's your only choice."

She looks at me, confused, then dejectedly replies "He's not even a choice." Gosh, we really need cheering up. "What I meant was, you might want to change your target. I'm fairly certain you could hit it." I say. She looks a question at me. "Theo." Her mouth drops open in surprise, and she begins to vehemently shake her head. "Hear me out!" I cut in, before I drown in the torrent of her objections. "He clearly likes you - I saw how he acted to you over that bussiness with the hyenas. You're both extremely clever, both like old books, things like that. You're a lot more similar than you care to let on. However, I don't think he'll make a move while you're still clearly obsessed by Xander!" She shakes her head, but in the end only objects with "I'm not obsessed by Xander!" Well, at least the thought is there now.

I decide to go home. It's fairly late, and I've already finished my quota of Slaying today. If Angel's not here, I might as well not be either.

Just as I leave through the doors, I sense something, just behind me. I turn, and there's nothing there. I rub the goosebumps that suddenly appeared on my arm, and continue walking down the dark alley that's the short cut to my house. Probably not the best thing for a Slayer, or, for that matter, anyone in Sunnydale, to do, but I think I can take care of myself.

A vampire jumps over the chainlink fence to my left, and I pull out my ever-present stake and whirl to plunge it in his chest. Except I was intercepted by another vampire, who squeezed my wrist so hard I could the bones grating together. I drop my stake in pain. And then, just to prove my good luck, a third matierialises from the gloom. "Hey, guys, I don't want to fight you!" I say, in a little girl voice, emphasising it with a swift kick to the groin of the one holding my wrist, forcing him to let go. However, the others to my sides grab my arms and pin them against the wall, and the other snarls as he comes for me.

Suddenly, a figure in a dark coat punches the snarling one, then simultaneously punches the ones that are pinning my arms, forcing them to let go. "Run!" a deep male voice calls. Angel. Even though it's too dark to see his face, I would recognise that voice anywhere. Even though my life had been in mortal danger just now, my heart beat as though I was preparing to fight an army of vampires, I was so nervous.

Nevertheless, I force my legs, which now feel like jelly, to run for home as fast as I can. I hear a thump behind me, then a snarl of "Good dogs don't bite!" in Angel's deep voice, punctuated by another thump, and then Angel's next to me, matching my sprint and looking as though it was easy. Once again, I wonder who exactly he is. I've been wondering that a lot recently.

We quickly reach my home, having far outdistanced the three vampires. Angel must have wounded them more than I thought, because over a distance sprint like this, vampires would win, no contest.

I fumble for the door key, then fumble for the lock. I'm not usually this clumsy, it's just becuase I know Angel's right here, even though I can't even hear him breathe. He must be really fit for that sprint not to have winded him at all.

I open the door, and turn to say goodbye. As much as I want to invite him in, I feel I don't want to make a fool of myself. However, when I see him clutching his chest, and a stain of blood slowly creeping over his pristine white shirt, I realize he must have been wounded at some point in the fight. "You're wounded!" I exclaim, surprised. "Come in, I'll bandage you up." Without further ado, I lead him into my kitchen, where we keep the bandages.

I suddenly realize that, in order to bandage his wounds, he'll have to take his shirt off. I feel as though I've been winded, and my heart beats even faster, if that were possible. I turn to him, glad that he had followed me in rather than doing his standard disappearing act again, and instruct him to remove his shirt. He looks at me quizzically for a moment, but then quickly sees the wisdom of my request.

My mouth goes dry. I'm not even going to attempt to describe the sheer physical perfection of his chest, but suffice it to say that it was the equal of my wildest dreams. More than equal! Not trusting myself not to faint, I bandage him as quickly as possible. He bears my administrations stoically.

It's a good thing I did it quickly, because almost as soon as I finish, I hear Mom open the door. I rush to her, and say, all in a rush, "Hello Mom! Gosh, you look tired! Why don't you go straight up to bed? It's late you know. Would you like me to make you some hot chocolate or something?" in an attempt to discourage her from seeing the half-naked Angel in the kitchen. She'd probably get the wrong idea.

My plans are ruined by the sudden appearance of Angel (mercifully fully dressed) at my shoulder. He must move like a cat! "Good evening." he says in a calm voice that sends shivers up my spine. Mom looks at him, and then at me, a faint smile in her face. No doubt she was prepared to laugh at my excuses for his being here, at this late time of night.

"Angel, this is my Mom. Mom, this is Angel, a college student. He's tutoring me history." I introduce them. Not a bad spur of the moment thing, I feel. I manage to usher Mom into the living room, and pretend to dismiss Angel. In reality, he'd gone up onto my room. I don't want him going out and getting killed by vampires. He going to stay with me tonight, and I can't help but feel a frisson of excitement at the thought.

I go upstairs, after wishing Mom goodnight, to see Angel lounging on my bed. He leaps up as soon as I get in,mandate says "I really should go." in an urgent and somewhat worried voice. I shake my head, and tell him there's no way he's going anywhere tonight. He can have a spare matress, duvet and pillow and sleep on the floor. He acquiesces, but with bad grace. Surely I cannot be such an ogre that he does not want to even be in the same room as me?

I bid him goodnight, but fear that his mere presence will keep me awake for most of the night. However, surprisingly, I quickly fall asleep, but am haunted by strange dreams of Angel looming over me, his lips on my neck..


	23. Chapter 23

I was woken from a dreadful nightmare, involving Angel, some green slimy thing and a barrel of monkeys, (Don't ask.) by someone shaking me. Being a Slayer and all that, I naturally woke very slowly, and then, when I opened my eyes to see Angel peering over me, headbutted him on the nose. He let out a grunt of surprise, and reeled backwards. What does he expect for waking me up whilst it's still dark? I need my sleep too, you know.

Rather than fussing over him and apologising, which I felt strangely compelled to do, I aks him sternly "What do you want?". The effect was somewhat spoiled by the fact that my voice was croaky and hoarse. I surreptiously clear my throat whilst I wait for him to answer.

"I thought I'd wake you before I leave. Not something I'll be trying again in a hurry." I feel instantly contrite, but before he can walk through my door and vanish from my life for another month, I ask "Why are you going?". I didn't expect him to do more than say a few words whilst he left, but instead he turns to me, and in the dark I can make out his eyes, which seem taut with pain. That blow to the ribs must have hurt him more than I thought.

In his husky, deep voice that always sends shivers down my spine, he says "Buffy, I shouldn't be here. There's no need for me to be here. I should've left long ago." His voice is full of some emotion, but which one I cannot tell. Then, in a lighter, less intense way, he says "Besides, I thought I might be able to find those three who ambushed you. I'm more prepared this time."

I'm not really bothered about the second reason. It's clear to me that the first is hs real reason, that and whatever emotion stained his voice. He turns again to leave, and again I do not want him to go. I ask him the only thing I can think of to get him stay for a little longer, to get him to look at me with those dark eyes, speak to me with that voice. I try to keep my voice steady so that it will betray none of this.

"Why do you hunt them, Angel? I do it because it's my destiny, but you? There's no need for you to fight." I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm over the word destiny. I have to show some emotion, otherwise I'll burst.

Angel freezes. I don't even see him breathe. Suddenly, in a blindingly fast blur of movement, he appears in front of me, his face so close to mine that I could touch by leaning forward an inch. My heart almost stops, then beats louder than I've ever heard it. Surely he must be able to hear it, to know what is that I feel for him?

He speaks, quietly, his voice filled with loss and rage and another emotion that I cannot identify. "One of... them... killed my parents." I wish I hadn't asked.

Impulsively, before I have time to think, I reach out and stroke his cheek. I can feel him stiffen, and then he relaxes, still staring at me with those unblinking dark eyes. I could almost imagine them pulling me in, getting bigger and bigger. I realise that this is because I'm getting closer and closer to his face. Again, without thought and driven by something else, something deeper, darker, I gently press my lips to his.

I felt as though I had been transfixed by a bolt of lightning, energy coursed through every fibre of my being.

i feel him pull away, just for a moment. Then, just as a well of despair an embarrassment begin to well up inside me, he crushes his lips back to mine, and I find myself literally breathless.

I find my hands winding through his gelled hair, his causing goosebumps where they tough my back. All the while, the kiss becomes more and more forceful, my heart beats stronger, faster, louder, until I feel I might burst.

Abruptly, something changes. His face, which had been pressed close to mine, becomes rough. His mouth becomes hard, his teeth longer. I push him away, and scream at what I see.

Vampire.

He rushes out of the house through my window, scurrying down the wall like a spider.

Vampire.

Mom comes rushing in, cuddles me, asks me what's wrong. I'm too stunned to respond.

Vampire.

"Just a bad dream." I wish.

I stayed there, staring out of the window all night, then watched the sun come up around an hour later. It wasn't until then that I realised that I need to go to school. Not only for school, but to tell the others, to warn them about him. I can't bting myself to think his name.

Whilst I get dressed and mechanically eat a croissant for my breakfast, I wonder why he didn't do anything to me. He was in my room whilst I slept, he could easily have killed me. Why did he save me from the other vampires?

I get up and leave early, heading straight for the library. I have no doubt that Theo and Giles will be there at the least, perhaps Willow as well. I don't want to face Xander just yet - he's always hated Angel, I could tell. He'd be the first to suggest his death. I wasn't so sure that that wouldn't be the right thing to do.

I walk through the nearly deserted corridors as fast as I can. There's an advantage to being early, something I've rarley ever been.

I slam open the library doors, calling Giles to spill tea all over himself. Something he no doubts prefers than spilling it on the antique book in front of him. Theo pokes his head around one of the book stacks to see what the commotion is, then broadly smiles when he sees me.

I plonk myself down on a chair opposite Giles. Theo takes one inbetween us. They both look at me quizically, no doubt wondering what prompted this. I get straight to the point. "Giles, is it possible for there to be a good vampire? Does such a thing exist?"

Surprisingly, I get two answers. "No" from Giles, and "Yes" from Theo. Giles looks at Theo in surprise, and then asks "What?". Theo looks surprised himself, and waves a hand vaguely. "Don't ask me. I don't know what I meant. Carry on."

Giles clears his throat before speaking, a sign that he's going to go into lecture-mode. Well, I've got nothing better to do with my time.

"Vampires aren't people at all. They look like the person they were, move like him, think like him, even have the same personality, but they are not human. At the core, they are nothing but demons."

Willow comes in, and smiles when she sees me. "Buffy!" she shouts delightedly, rushing over to take the chair immediately next me. "You're here! Early! What's the big occasion?" No matter how down I feel, Willow can always make me feel better. Nevertheless, I still have to steel myself for the news I'm about to give. At least they're all sitting down.

"Everyone, Angel's a vampire." Willow, at my side, grabs my arm, and starts babbling about how it can't be true, I must be wrong. I wish I was. Giles gets up and starts pacing up and down, an enormous frown on his face. Theo merely looks at me, waiting for me to go on. Does anything ever phase that boy?

I tell them everything that happened last night and early this morning, although I don't go into details about how I felt about the kiss. I made it seem like no big deal, but I don't think I fooled anyone. However, at least everyone believes me now. I can tell Xander later - I probably won't be able to talk to him until break, he's almost always late.

Giles had vanished shortly after I'd finished my tale, calling something over his shoulder about research and coming back later. The bell went. I mentally prepare myself for a day of classes, knowing that all I'll be thinking about is Angel. I hope that Giles can find reference to him being good. I think - no, I don't know what I think about him. Not yet.


	24. Chapter 24

Angel

I'm a fool. I never should have revealed myself like that. I never should've done it at all. I'm weak, just as I always was.

I hear a noise from the front end of my appartment. There are some uses of being a vampire.

Darla comes in, dressed like a Catholic schoolgirl. If I had a pulse, she would probably have started it racing. I have not seen her for nearly a century. I'd forgotten how beautiful she was - and how shallow.

"So, you've taken to living above ground, like one of them?" she says sneeringly, looking around. Then she looks at me, and I struggle to maintain my impassivity. "Face it, Angelus, you're not. D'you think your Slayer will love you? Has she seen you, your real face?" She takes my silence for the correct answer, and giggles maliciously, a sound I always hated. "She chased you away, and still you love her. How romantic. D'you remember when that was us? You'd have done enything for me." Seeing as how she's not going to get to the point any time soon, I may as well sit down. I very much doubt she'll try anything now.

Sure enough, she continues as though I hadn't moved. "Soon, all that evil will come pouring out. I want to be there to see it." She licks her lips at the though of all the blood that would spill should that happen. No one in Sunnydale would be safe, not even the Slayer. "Maybe you don't want to be." I say quietly, hoping to put an end to her babbling. I hate people who talk to much. "I'm not afraid of you. But she is. And you know what?" She says, leaning towards me. "I'm going to make you kill her." Just like that, she's gone.

Good riddance.

Buffy

Xander had acted predictably enough, once I'd told him what was going on, what Angel was. He wanted me to hunt him down and stake him. I wonder what Angel had done to him to make him so angry?

Hopefully Giles has some news on Angel, proof that he's a good vampire. I can't believe otherwise, not after that kiss. I head to the library, Willow and Xander in tow, Xander looking thunderous that I wasn't hunting him immediately. Theo had skipped lessons to help Giles - he does that a lot, yet still passes every test. I wish I did.

We go in, to the usual sight of books sprawled all over the place, and Theo reading a massive, dusty book, exactly the sort of thing that looks as though it might hold answers. I peer over his shoulder when he doesn't look up to us come in - maybe I can find something. However, the book is written in some other language - not French, which is the only other language I know anything about.

Finally, he turns the page and looks up, then seems surprised to see me. "Hello Buffy, Willow, Xander. Giles went into the stack about five minutes ago, shouting "Eureka". Other than that, we've found nothing, except that whoever wrote this book doesn't know much Latin." He speaks calmly, as though finding Angel's innocence means nothing to him. It probably doesn't. I wonder if even Willow thinks I should kill him.

Willow asks curiously "Do you speak Latin?" Theo, who had begun to look back at the book, his face covered with a contemptuous sneer, says "Linguam Latinam loquor" which I guess means "Yes". We all take seats and wait for Giles to come back and reveal his discovery - I don't doubt he's made one. I can't doubt him. I've got to hold together, seem strong for the others.

We don't have to wait long at all, because Giles comes hurrying back with a surprisingly small and innocuous book in his hand. He gives a start, no doubt having lost track of time and thought we'd be here later. He often does that. His surprise quickly gives way to a large smile, which I find myself responding to. He found something!

"I thought I that I should check the Watcher's diaries, and I found reference to Angelus, or the one with the angelic face." I mutter "They got that right." Under my breath, to an incredulous glance from Xander. Giles carries on oblivious "He was sired about 240 years ago, and caused havoc in Europe for centuries, killing thousands. Then, about 80 years ago, he came to America and nothing of him was heard of again. It was presumed that he had died, but whatever happened, he hasn't killed anyone since coming here." He looks up from the diary he had been scanning, satisfied.

"So he's a good vampire! On a scale of one to ten, ten being one who kills everyday, one being one which... doesn't." says Willow exuberantly. Theo snorts in amusment. Xander looks sick, and only get sicker when the bell goes. More school. Something I can now bear with fortitude.

Hours later, after school has finished, I go home, hoping against hope to see Angel on the way. But it was not to be. Nevertheless, feeling inexplicably happy, I open the door to my house. Without a key - it had been left open. Something was wrong.

I felt a knot in my stomach. Giles must have been wrong - only Angel had permission to enter my house, the others couldn't enter. He'd gone after my mom.

I went in the kitchen, and saw Angel, his vampire face smeared with blood, holding Mom in his arms. Unconscious. Bleeding.

As soon as he saw me, he ran. Coward. I'll find him, hunt him down. Xander'll be happy. I call the ambulance. I should feel afraid for her, but I don't. Just numb, as though I've lost everything, but am too shocked to feel it.

I'll kill him


	25. Chapter 25

I'm at the hospital with Willow, Xander and Theo. Giles says he'll be here as soon as he can. The doctors say she'll be alright, that she'll be awake soon. They given her some iron supplements - apparently she's anaemic. If only they knew.

Xander turns to me, says "You should kill him. He's a vampire, and he nearly killed your mother. Not that I'm biased or anything. I wouldn't want you to think that." I nod, barely listening, just watching Mom's chest rise and fall, so happy that it could, so angry that it had almost been stopped forever. As soon as she wakes up, if it really was Angel - of course it is. How could it be otherwise? Look at the wounds on her neck.

I'll hunt him down.

She stirs, her eyes fluttering. I'm at her side in a heart beat, holding her hand. "Mom?" I say softly, tenderly. She looks at me, eyes unfocused. Hardly surprising that she's still a bit dazed.

Her eyes focus, seeing me. My heart leaps. "Buffy?" she says weakly. "What happened?" I try to remember what the doctor had said. What was it? Oh yes - "You fell on a barbecue fork." I say calmly, trying not to let her know that anything out of the ordinary had happened, how close she had come to death. At least she doesn't know.

She frowns, confused "We have a barbecue fork?" Then something else replaces her confusion - worry. "Your friend must have been so scared. must have run off. I'm not surprised." I frown. It must have been Angel, Mom would never call anyone else my "friend". As if he wasn't a lot more than that. And a lot less.

I get up when I hear the door creak open. Giles. Now I can go and kill Angel, like I should have done as soon as I found out. I leave, saying that there are a few things I need to take care of, that'll I be back in an hour or two. She doesn't seem to notice, shes staring at Giles, a faint frown on her face as though she was trying to remember him. "Do I know you?" She asks, puzzled. I leave them to it.

If I know Angel, and I think I do, I know where he'll be. He will want to make this easy. He'll be at The Bronze, waiting for me. Waiting for one of us to die. I mean to make it him.

I pick up the crossbow I'd asked Giles to leave outside - I don't want to get close to him. Kill him from a distance. I head to The Bronze, and try to fill myself with the same numbness that I'd felt when I'd seen him feeding on Mom. It's harder, now, now that I'm so close. A strange place, Sunnydale, to build a hospital so close to a nightclub. I suppose it's logical, with the amount of accidents one gets there. It'll take me hardly any time at all to get there.

And indeed it doesn't. Not even five minutes later, and I'm standing outside the door. I take a deep breath before I go in. Not to steady my nerves - I'm not scared. To hold onto the numbness, to do what must be done. I go in

I'm not surprised to see him lounging there, completely at ease, toying with a dagger. He flicks it into the air, watching the light play on it as it spins, then deftly snatches it out of the air. Without even looking at me, the gesture changes, and I can hear the knife whistle past my ear, hear it vibrate as it hits the doorframe next to me. I have no doubt that that was his target. He wants to toy with me. Sadist.

Without seeming to move, he was upright, facing me, his yellow vampire eyes sparkling malignantly in the gloom. I'm not used to seeing anyone but Theo move that fast, but from what Giles has been teaching me, vampires can't move like that all the time, not even the oldest. He's just showing off.

Calmly, wrapping myself in numbness, I ready the crossbow, ready to fire, to kill. He just stands there, arms outspread, welcoming it.

I can't do it. Not if he won't fight. Why won't he fight?

I lower my crossbow, but keep it ready so I can fire it in a heartbeat, should it be necessary.

"Come on!" he snarls viciously, as only a vampire can. "Do it! Do what you came to do." He comes towards me, arms still outstretched, trying to goad me into it. Now, facing him like this, trying so hard to make me kill him, without him striking a blow against me, I can't believe he's evil.

"Why, Angel? Why are you trying so hard to make me kill you?" I decide to take a risk, a gamble. If it works, I'll know for sure. I'll act. I try to convince myself I'm not just putting off the inevitable.

Time to throw the dice. "I know it wasn't you who did it. Wasn't you who hurt her." Surprise flickers through his suddenly human features, one of the few emotions I'd ever seen from him. He lowers his arms, and stops cold. "You know?" he says hesitantly. "How? Why come to me like this, if you knew?"

A high pitched nasal tone emerges from the shadows, as does a small blonde. I know her, I've seen her before. One of the Master's lackeys. "She bluffed, you fool! The Angel I knew, Angelus, would have seen it in a second. Truly, you've grown soft."

I ready my crossbow at her. I can sense Angel, turning to face me, to protect me. He seems wary - which means I should be. As for Blondie, she seems utterly unphased by the crossbow. "Scary." she says, tauntingly, her eyes daring me to fire. I hesitate just a moment too long, and a pair of shiny silver pistols appearing her hands as if by magic. "Scarier!" she crows. There are a couple of cracks, and suddenly Angel is sent reeling. It took all my resolve not to run to him. Bullets can't kill vampires.

I duck under the pool table. Bullets can still kill me, Slayer or no. I listen, all my senses strained for the footsteps that would herald me having to run or fight. I hear voices talking urgently outside - not the words, but from their voices I know who they are. Willow and Theo. Apparently Blondie hears them too, because she hesitates, wondering if she should go after them.

Suddenly, the doors bang open, and I cannot help but look over the rim of the pool table. They say curiosity killed the cat. Hope it doesn't kill me.

Theo stands there, his face contorted with rage, his body shaking with it. I've never seen him like this, never. I've always envied his calm. There's a flat, gleaming knife in either hand, but they're held loosely, as though he doesn't even know they're there.

"You." he snarls, and I've never heard a word endowed with so much hatred. All of it directed at Blondie, who's standing there, looking as stunned as I feel. "You killed me. You came in the night, whilst I was sleeping. You killed the guard - rolled his head right into camp. Then you and the others burst among us, killing. Didn't even drink. Just slaughtered us where we were. You broke us, broke the republic. We could've have been a great country, if not for you and the fear you caused in that single night." his voice was different, still with an accent, but a different one, I'm sure. Spanish, perhaps, maybe Portuguese. I try to remember my history - was there ever a Spanish Republic?

Blondie seems to have regained some composure, enough to answer coolly "I killed you? You don't look very dead to me. Maybe we can fix that." With that, she leaps clean over the tables between them, and presses a pistol to his chest. He freezes. Not even Theo, no matter what's happened to him now, can move faster than a bullet. Not at that range.

"Now, then." she says conversationally, as though she hasn't got a gun pointed at him. "When exactly was I meant to have killed you?" She clearly thinks him mad, and not a threat. Just an amusement. I'm not sure he's not mad. "1939. Just before the fall of Madrid." he answers, gruffly, without a hint of fear. I was right, it was Spanish. Willow will be so proud. An irrational thought to have at a time like this, but no wonder, with my nerves strung so tight.

Blondie seems more surprised now than she had when he first appeared. "How could you possibly know..." she shakes her head as though to clear her thoughts. "It doesn't matter." she says roughly, and then fires. I let out an involuntary squeak.

I needn't have worried. The gun misfired, or whatever the technical term is for when a gun doesn't fire. I've never liked guns enough to learn anything about them.

Suddenly, Angel looms behind like - well, like the Angel of Death. And stakes her with a pool cue. An unimpressive end. Angel looks at Theo, a mixture of bewilderment and something else - fear? Surely not. - in his gaze. Then he looks at me, and I feel my pulse race. He nods at me once, as between equals, then vanishes into the darkness. I know I'll see him again, but for once today I'm more concerned with something else.

"What the hell was that?" I ask Theo, and I'm echoed by Willow, who's come in by the door. She looks furious - I guess she counselled against it, whatever it was. He shrugs and moves to a chair. Even the way he moves is different - Theo moves gracefully, his feet hardly seeming to touch the ground, like a cat, but now he's moving more like a shorter, muscly man. He sits done and puts his head on one hand, and clenches his fist so hard I'd be surprised if it didn't draw blood.

After a few moments like this, Willow moves over to him to see how he is, but I gesture at her to stay where she is. If Theo has become mentally unstable, I do not want her closer to him than she has to be. To think, I even recommended her to him!

Then he looks up, and for a fraction of a second his eyes reflect the gloomy light in a strange way, looking almost silver. Then he smiled, the same crooked smile that has always been his. He's alright. He winces, looking at his hand, and even in this faint light I can see the blood. No doubt, at the rate he heals, it'll be fine by tomorrow.

I repeat my question, and he answers in his normal melodic accent "Just a memory. It came on me so strongly that I became who I was then." I try to follow what he said, but it sounds like he was alive, and got killed nearly 60 years ago or so. Then I realise that that is exactly what he meant. I remember that bussiness with Osiris, when we found that he had memories of being alive about 7000 years ago, and we'd all thought that he had stayed in the same body he was in now. Apparently we were mistaken.

"So you're saying there's some part of you that has lived in other men?" Willow asks incredulously. She's evidently just worked it out as well. He nods, looking at us both to gauge our reactions. "Like past lives." she mutters, under breath but loudly enough for everyone to hear. "That's a good an explanation as any." he says calmly, with a shrug.

I need to talk to Giles about this. Although Theo himself may be stable, if he can be taken over by past lives or whatever they are, then he's a liability. We need to find some kind of a way to stop it. I'm sure Giles, with enough time to research, will find an answer.

But for now, I'm going to go and see Mom, tip off Giles and go home. I hope Mom can leave the hospital now. It's late, and the day has been physically and mentally exhausting.

At least Angel isn't evil. I'm glad I didn't have to kill him, whatever my Slayer duties say. Gods, please tell me I don't have feelings for a vampire!

End of Book 6.

_Authors note_

_The historical reference here is to the Spanish civil war, 1936-39. The siege of Madrid was the final battle, after which the republic fell and Spain was ruled by a dictator (Franco). It is commonly held that the war was lost because the leaders of the republic left the country, and the soldiers suffered a massive blow to morale. Here, that loss of morale was caused by a massacre of a group of soldiers, carried out by Darla and a group of vampires. Because, if Anya can cause the Russian Revolution, Darla can end a republic._

_Also, after the next episode, I will no longer be doing every episode, merely the ones that I find interesting or relevant to the plot. And yes, in the next episode, some of what Theo is will be revealed._

_Au'revoir_


	26. Chapter 26

As tired as I was, and as much as I wanted to sink into the oblivion of sleep, I simply couldn't manage it. I had gotten Mom home, and no doubt she was fast asleep, given the late hour.

It wasn't only the fact tha Angel was a vampire that kept me awake - a large part of it was _why._ Why would he help me? He saved my life from that trio of vampires. He'd slept in my room and hadn't killed me. I also wanted to know exactly who that blonde vampire was - I've seen her before, but what did she mean to him? Why hadn't she killed him when she had the chance? I needed to know the answers to all these questions, and I knew I wasn't going to find them here, nor get any sleep. So I decided to go and look for Angel. I doubt it'll be too hard to find him, I'm sure if I wander down enough dark alleys I'll find him soon enough.

I quickly get dressed, fighting the urge to wear my best clothes. Surely I can't still be attracted to him, not now that I know he's a vampire? If only things worked that way. When I'm done, I climb out of the window, trying to make as little noise as possible, because Mom might be awake. Most of the houses in Sunnydale seem ideal for climbing in and out of. I suppose that's what happens when one lives on a Hellmouth.

And so I commenced my wandering of the night-time streets, and not once did it occur to me that Angel wouldn't show.

Giles

It had struck me, after Theo had begun his exceedingly strange tale of what had happened when he encountered the as yet nameless blonde vampire, that I had been using the wrong strategy to try and find out about him. I had concentrated more on the skills he has, in attempt to find out what manner of being he is, rather than focusing on how he got here. After all, it is exceedingly strange that someone with no memory of his past whatsoever would turn up here and just happen to help the Slayer, is it not?

So, after Theo had finished telling me what happened, I had gone to the library rather than back home, as I can never sleep if I have an upcoming project such as this. In Sunnydale, I seem to have one every other day. I had a good feeling that changing my focus would throw up all sorts of interesting information. I though I'd start with the Watcher diaries, perhpas influenced by my recent discovery of Angel's past in them. Strange, that a vampire can do good acts - I had always considered them incapable of them. Well, sometimes it's nice to be proved wrong.

Theo had, as usual, accompanied me back, and was more than usually silent. As soon as we got back, he booted up one of those infernal computers and started typing God-knows-what, which is rather strange behaviour for him. It had always seemed that he had never even noticed that they were there, before. Normally he retreats somewhere into the Stacks, but God only knows what he does there. I seem to thinking that phrase a lot right now - maybe soon I'll know what aswell, if all goes well.

I settle down to good couple of hours of research. Despite what the others think of me, I do not overly love research. I'd much rather be, at this very moment, asleep in my warm, cosy bed. But there's no point thinking like that, not when there's work to do.

Buffy

It had taken far less time than I had thought to find him - or, rather, for him to find me. One moment I had been casually walking down yet another back alley, when suddenly Angel appeared in front of me, as if by magic. It nearly gave me a heart attack, but I tried to stay as composed as possible. Let him put my rapidly beating heart down to its usual cause - being close to him. Not that that is much better.

He looks at me silently, his face impassive. Waiting for me to speak. However, now that I was here, face-to-face with him, I had no idea what to say. Oh, all the questions were still in my head, whirling around, but they faded to the background. For the first time in my life, I was tongue tied. Normally, I managed to say nothing, no matter how foolish it might be, but I'd never been struck dumb before.

Fortunately, after the silence had stretched for too many uncomfortable moments, Angel decided to speak. Again, the sudden sound of his deep voice scared me. What is wrong with me? "What do you want?" He asked brusquely, without preamble. Then, as though the floodgates had opened, all the questions and all the things I wanted to say to him poured into my mouth, queuing up on the tip of my tongue to be spoken. I had to be careful not to let them all spill out. No need to look more foolish than I already do.

"Angel" I began, slowly, savouring the sound of his name on my tongue "I need to know things, things about you. Why aren't you like normal vampires? Who was that blonde, how did she know you? why would you help a Slayer?" I managed to say these questions slowly and distinctly, not blurring them into each other or stumbling over my tongue as I had feared I would.

Angel sighs, and seems to relax, although the difference between how looked tense and relaxed are almost imperceptible. He looks just as impassive as ever. Then he too begins to speak slowly. "Once, several centuries ago, I was human. Oh, and what a human I was! I was a drunken wastrel, fit for nothing. Then she came. Darla, the woman - the vampire - I killed last night. I don't know what she saw in me, but she turned me into a vampire. Then, for decades we killed and slaugtered and tortured without mercy, leaving bloody death to anyone we met. Then, one day, I met a Romany girl, a gypsy. Beautiful young thing, or she was until I got her. I - you don't want to know what I did to her, but her tribe wanted revenge. You see, once a human is turned, their memories, the way they think, everything is still there. But not the soul. That's is gone forever. That's why we could pillage and destroy without any remorse. But those Romany, they were clever. They devised a perfect curse. They gave my soul back. You can have no idea what it's like to have done what I have and care."

He told the entire story in a monotone, all save the last line. It served only to make the horror of his tale more evident. I couldn't resist enveloping him in a hug, but whether it was to comfort me or him I will never know. After stiffening briefly, he tentatively hugged me in return. I don't think that I've ever been so happy in my life.

Giles

I'm surprised by the sheer quantity of accounts of the most diverse beings, ranging from Slayers- to demons to ordinary humans, Champions who had fought a great battle against the Dark, and almost always been heped by someone mysterious, with little or no past, who frequently had strange powers of some kind. These ranged from being telekinetic, mind reading, seeing the future - so many accounts! To think I could have found out about him weeks ago, if only I had looked in the right place.

I decided to tell Theo right away, because after all, who has more right to know than him? "Theo?" I say softly, not wanting to disturb him more than is necessary. "Mmhh?" he replies distractedly, without stopping his typing. I must say I found the sound strangely soothing.

"I may have found out soething about you." I proceeded to tell him everything I had just discovered. He seemed curiously unmoved, but then his reactions to things has always been somewhat strange. He asks "And what about these memories of dead people that I have in my head? That surely can't be normal."

"No, indeed not. None of my books mention anything about that particular phenomenon, but they do mention, umm, flaws with the people. For example, pain when they use their gift, or a lack of control. I believe that these memories may well be yours."

"Fair enough." He says, unconcerned. Pah! After all those times of him being so eager to know about himself, when I do, he doesn't even seem to care. It must be something to do with what whatever he's typing. I ask him what it is. "Computer program. I'll show more at that scanning project thingamajig after school, if you like?" He says shortly, eyes never leaving the screen. I decline politely, and head home. Some of us have to get some sleep.

End of Book Six.


	27. Chapter 27

Willow

Scanning things into computers is more fun than it sounds, even though I'm surrounded by the fanatical computer geeks from my Computer Technology class. I guess that I'm kind of a geek too, but at least I have friends - Buffy and Xander are here, helping, although I have no idea why. I think Buffy is here to distract her from Angel, and Xander's here because she is.

Theo wasn't, and that got to me more than I would've expected. I had asked him yesterday if he'd be here, and he'd said yes, but that was before he'd been possessed by some long-dead Spaniard. Since then, I hadn't seen him, not even in classes. Giles had hinted that he'd found something out, but he hadn't been able to tell us here, with all these other people here. I don't think that that's the only thing that's frustrating him...

Buffy has just opened a box to find, surprise surprise, an old book, dusty but embossed with some ssort of golden demonic face. It's good thing no one else is wondering why every book is a grimoire or some such thing. I guess them being in different languages helped.

Buffy sneezed when she blew the dust of the book, and then promptly made the sneeze-face as though she would again. However, after a couple of moments of it, and a couple of unmanly giggles from Fritz and his crew, Buffy relaxed, although she did glare at them.

She silently passed the book to Giles, with a murmured "Here's another one for you to skim, Willow" puts it on my pile of books, which despite the dozens I've scanned so far, doesn't seem to have diminished. I hope it's becuase he trusts me not to do something strange with them, not because he doesn't want to go near Ms. Calendar, who seems to be taking great delight in annoying him.

"It's scan, Rupert. Say it with me, slowly. Scaann." she says to him, having jumped upon his mistake like a cat on a mouse. Giles looks at her briefly, eyes all squinty as they are when he gets annoyed. "Of course." He says, sarcastically. Ms. Calendar, however, just doesn't seem able to leave him alone. "Someday, Rupert, I hope to see you join us in the 20th century - with three years to spare!" Giles, however, seems just as determined to get the last word (even though he hasn't managed yet, despite several clashes tonight) "Well, I feel that one doesn't need to be a slave to the Idiot Box to be a part of modern society." he replies, patting the nearest computer to him as though it might possibly bite him. Ms. Calendar, however, refuses to show her annoyance, but quickly ripostes with "The idiot box is TV, Rupert. Do try to keep up. This is the *good* box." Whilst she's speaking, she's strking the computer like a well-loved pet.

I wonder if these two know each other? They seem as though they're picking up an argument that they've had several times before. I suppose, konwing next to nothing about Giles' past, that all things are possible.

Giles, however, seems once again to be losing this word-duel. He says, somewhat weakly, knowing that he has few arguments to support his unreasoning dislike of computers, that "I prefer a good book".

Fritz, who's somewhat trollish looking, stands up and clasps his hand behind his back. He does this fairly frequently, in class, and it means that he's going to lecture us about how important computers and the internet are in modern-life. I really, really hope I never sound like that - it makes him seem lke a lunatic, or a zealous fanatic. "The printed page is obsolete. Information isn't bound anymore! The only real world is virtual! If you're not jacked in, you're not alive." Not the most coherent argument, but delivered with such passion taht it's obvious that he believes it. Definetely zealous fanatic - I can easily imagine him belonging to some kind of computer cult.

Seemingly overcome by emotion, he grabs his back and his very small pile of books and leaves. Ms. Calendar calls after him "Thank you Fritz, for making us seem like crazy people!" then she turns to Giles, eagerly wanting to carry on their "Conversation". She follows him as he tries to escape, quoting figures about how much more popular using the internet was than books. Giles doesn't answer, content on trying to put as much disatnce between them as possible. Why is she pushing him so hard? _Does _she know him?

After about a minute of this, she seems to get tired of her sport. Turning to the rest of us, a very small group, she says "Thanks, guys, I think that it's time to wrap it up." Wanting to finish my book, and is possible catch Theo, before I go, I tell her that I'll stay a bit. She shrugs and says "Cool", and I'm left wondering how old she is. She acts a little like a teenager.

Xander swings his bag onto his shoulder, and turns to go. I open my mouth to ask him to stay, but knowing how futile it will be decide against it. Besides, I don't want him around in case Theo decides to show up.

Giles tells me "I'll be back in the Middle Ages, if you need me." Ms. Calendar can, unsurprisingly, not resist a final, needling word. "Did you ever leave?" Giles stops, but doesn't turn around. She grins widely at his reaction, before turning to go. Only then does he turn around, watching her retreating back. When she gets out of sight, he shakes himself slightly, and then heads back into the Stacks. What is going on between those two?

No sooner had Giles vanished, than Theo appeared, coming from the other side. He looks amazing, almost sparkling with life, a faint smile on his face. I'm glad he's not avoidng us any longer.

"i thought they'd never leave!" he says in his musical accent, pulling up a chair opposite me. Not wanting to be distracted, I ask "Where've you been? Why weren't you in class? Buffy and Xander think you've vanished back to whatever place you came from." Suddenly he's serious again. He's so mercurial I have no idea what he's thinking most of the time. Hell, I don't even know what I'm thinking most of the time! "But you didn't?" he asks softly, loking at me intently. "No." I reply, after a moments pause. I fe he asks me why, I don't think I'll be able to answer. I just didn't think he'd leave. He seems to understand.

Suddenly, he twirls his chair, and his fingers fly across the keyboard nearest to him, and it turns on, even though I'm sure it was off and he didn't press the on button. Whilst he does that, he says "Willow, would you mind coming over here? There's something I want to show you. Maybe you can make more sense of it than I can." I'm flattered, but doubtful that I can. I have to work hard for my test scores, but he always gets the same grade as me, and he isn't even in classes half the time, and when he does he's always doing something in a sketch-book.

I look at the screen after his fingers stop their rapid typing. It's black, save for two word. "Project Austen" Before I can ask what it is, he says "This is a computer program I spent most of the night making. The strange thing is, I don't know anything about computer programs." Well, maybe one of his past-lives does, although I refrain from making this comment. "What does it do?" I ask curiously. "Almost anything I want it to. After I've spoken to Giles, I'm going to open a bank account and buy a house through it. Although, because I'm under age, it'll have to be in Giles' name."

"You're not serious!" I burst out. Not even the most talented hacker in the world could make a program that could do _anything. _It's not possible. Theo looks at me, surprised. "Of course I'm serious. Can't you tell?" He says this perfectly seriously. However, the truth is, I can't tell. He changes so fast I'm not sure what he is, from one moment to the next. Assuming that it is in fact possible, I ask to see the code. Maybe that'll help make sense of it. Theo, fingers again a blur on the keyboard, types "Access program code."

Instantaneously, the reply arrives. "Code non-existent". Theo says to me "That's why I wanted you to have a look at it." Suddenly I feel very tired. It's late, and I've spent most of the day wondering if something has happened to Theo, and I'm just not in the mood for a puzzle right now. I politely ask if I can look at it tomorrow, and he graciously accepts, despite a questioning look in his eye.

I turn back to my computer, wanting to finish the last few pages of this book. When I glance up to see if Theo's still there, I see he's vanished, almost as though he was never there. I scan the last few pages and then leave, not waiting for Giles to come back to say goodnight


	28. Chapter 28

Buffy, one week later

"Willow!" I call, as I walk down the corridor to try and catch her. She's walking slowly, as though she's in a trance, clutching books to her chest. She's been a little preoccupied the last few days or so, but nothing like this. I wonder what happened?

Even so, I was surprised when she didn't immediately turn around and wait for me. She must be very preoccupied if she's ignoring even me. I wonder if Xander finally made his attentions clear? No, she doesn't seem depressed - on the contrary, she seems almost glowing. Theo, then?

I catch up with her, and lay my hand on her shoulder, she jumps, then glances at me quickly. At an attempt at coolness, she says "Oh, hi Buffy. I didn't even see you there." Hmmm... so it's something she doesn't want me to know. Then I feel annoyed at myself, reading things into what she's saying that probably aren't there. I try to steel myself not to do that. "Or hear me." I continue, acting as though nothing had happened. Which, in reality, was true. "I tried your line about a million times yesterday. What was up with you last night?"

"I was talking to someone." I knew it! I was right. Nevertheless, I decide to play along a little longer. "Talking to who?" I ask, trying to keep my voice level. After all, I might still be wrong. Willow doesn't answer, just waltzes slowly down the corridor in some kind of dream state, heading for her locker. "Okay, you have a secret! that's not allowed. It's a rule." I say, wanting to skip the dancing around until she tells me whats going on and get straight to the congratulations.

Willow finally opens up, if only a little. "I kind of met someone." She says this with such a radiant smile that I am quite taken aback. She has never smiled like that before, not that I've seen. She's remarkably pretty. I guess moping after Xander would make anyone a little gloomy - although Xander moping after me hasn't had any effects on his spirits. So, not Theo then. Someone new. Seems unlike Willow, but then I've only actually known her for a few months.

"When did you meet? Does he go here? What's his name? Have you kissed him? What's he like?" I swamp her in a deluge of questions, which she seems perfectly happy to answer. "Last week, after the scanning project, no, Malcolm, no, and very nice." She too answers excitedly and all at once, happilly giving me the answers I want. I wonder who Malcolm is? No doubt we'll find out.

Although, I must say I'm rather put out that she didn't tell me this as soon a she found out, and I tell her so. "You are a thing of evil for not telling me this right away!" I say, joking. Being Willow, she has a perfectly reasonable explanation "I wasn't sure there was anything to tell, but last night - oh! we talked for hours. He's so romantic!"

Only now do I feel the slightest pang of jealousy. How I wish that Angel would be like that! I force myself not to think about my vampiric crush - something I find increasingly difficult to do. However, I cannot resist letting out a small sigh. "What does he look like?" I ask, curiously. Willow quite cheerfully responds "I don't know!" and, having got everything she needed from her locker, quickly walks down the corridor, leaving me blinking after her, shocked. How can she not know what he looks like? How can she not have seen him?

Then I hurry after her, as she heads towards the computer department. This is a mystery that I simply must solve. It's a good thing I don't have a lesson now, I've already missed enough recently. I catch up with her just as she enters the classroom, and quietly continue on the conversation as though she had never left. "How can you have been seeing a guy, but not know what he looks like?" I ask, trying not be overheard by the other geeks. There's something creepy about them.

Whilst she logs on onto her computer, Willow says "I met him online." After a brief moment where I wait for her to finish her sentence, I ask "Online for what?" With her smile that shows how little I know, she gestures to the computer. Oh, the Internet. Not something I need to use much, with Giles around. He knows everything I could ever want to know, and plenty of things I wouldn't.

Then he PC, in a falsely cheerful robotic voice that sets my teeth on edge, says "You've got mail!" Willow quickly opens it, then lets out a moue of excitement. "It's from him!" she says. The message says "I'm thinking of you." I must say, someone who sends an email like that without haing met up seems more like a stalker than boyfriend matierial.

I realise that Willow has been talking about what to write back, whilst I was thinking that she shouldn't. Rather than being too strong, i say, as gently as I can "Willow, what do you actually know about this guy? I'm just saying, he might be different than you think."

Just then, Ms. Calendar walks in, weraing dark glasses and carrying a mug of coffee. I wish some of my teachers were like her, she seems cool. She looks at me, then says "Buffy, this is class time. Make sure this is a short visit, okay?" I nod. See what I mean? Most other teachers would've chased me out, but she didn't even ask if I had a lesson. She's followed by Theo, who I haven't seen for days. I didn't even know he took this class. When he sees me, he smiles a guilty smile in my direction, and somehow I think that that's going to be all the explanation and apology I'm going to get. He pulls up a chair near us, as Ms. Calendar sits at her desk, turning her computer on.

"Hey, Fritz! You and Dave have been clocking up a scary amount of clock time. What've you been doing?" She asks. Fritz, eyes never leaving the computer, grunts "New project." She seems to accept that, only asking "Will I be impressed?" Fritz answers, perfectly seriously "You'll die." He really is creepy. Then Ms. Calendar rounds on Theo, saying "You couldn't possibly have been in here all that time. It must be some kind of mistake." Theo, with a too innocent smile on his face, says "Yes, of course it is." Hiding a smile of my own, I turn to leave. If anyone can snap Willow out of this, or at least make her be a bit more realistic, Theo can.


	29. Chapter 29

Willow

For the first time, I discovered the difficulty in concentrating on work caused by wanting to speak to Malcolm. I can now understand Cordelia and her endless horde of suitors not bothering to do most of their work now.

It didn't help much that Theo just sat there, staring at the black computer screen in front of him. He seemed to be having some kind of inner dialogue - sometimes he would smile radiantly, and other times he would scowl ferociously. He also looked different: the vitality that he had, that made him such an interesting person to look at, seemed closer to the surface somehow. He looked as though he would fall out of his skin (not the most meaningful description, I know, but the only one I can think of that makes any sense at all.)

Ms. Calendar seemed content to leave us alone for the lesson - she seemed agitated, on edge. She also kept glancing at the door, as though she expected someone to walk through it. I wonder who?

I noticed all of this only on the edge of my perceptions. By far the greater part of my mind was taken up in wondering what I should say in reply to Malcolm's simple but incredibly sweet "I'm thinking of you." So far, I haven't come up with anything that doesn't seem as though I'm playing hard to get, or being Cordelia - i.e, throwing myself at him. This relationship business is harder than I'd thought.

Well, time flies when you've got a decision to make. All to soon, seemingly only minutes after we had arrived, it was time to go. As soon as the bell rang, Theo was up and out of the door before it had even finished, leaving Ms. Calendar gawping after him. I had to struggle not to chuckle at her face.

At a slower pace, but not as slow as Fritz and the computer maniacs, who were having extreme problems drawing themselves away, I too left the room.

When I was ambling slowly across the courtyard, thinking of Malcolm once again, I felt a pair of warm hands over my eyes, and a voice from behind me says playfully "Guess who" close to my ear. Only a few days ago, that would probably have given me a heart attack, that Xander was that close to me, but no longer. "Xander?" I ask, pretending it's a guess. "Okay", he says grudgingly, "but you have to try again anyway." This time, I reply with more surety "Xander!". Finally he releases me, and I feel a little sad that he had moved away. But only a little.

"Anyway, Will, I wanted to ask you if you'd be going to the Bronze tonight. I'm planning to make fun of all the people who won't talk to me." He says, looking at me hopefully. Once again, I feel a few faint stirrings, but I have Malcolm now. I can't go chasing after Xander all the time. "That's nice, but I'm thinking of having an early night." with that, I turn and leave, not bothering to hear him spout the same drivel Buffy had tried to sell me on earlier.

Xander

I watched Willow turn and walk away from me, and it hurt. She had never walked away from me before - if anything, she'd followed me around. I felt someone walk up behind me, and a small blonde head appeared at my shoulder. Buffy.

"She looks happy." She says to me. Just a flat out statement, no meaning behind it. She just wanted to see how I'd react. "Sure, there's a spring in her step, a sparkle in her eyes." I say bitterly. Why am I feeling this so strongly? "It's not healthy." I finish. We begin to walk, aimlessly, not bothered where we were going.

Jovially, almost as though she doesn't care, she says "Check out the jealous man!" Maybe she doesn't care. Maybe she's happy for her. Why aren't I? Why to I have this hollow pit in stomach? "No, no." I begin, somewhat distractedly. "It just... this Malcolm guy. What's his deal? Tell me don't find a little weird. Not even a little?" I hope Buffy doesn't notice the plainitive tone that was slowly creeping into my voice. "Sure, I'm a little wigged, but what does it matter? She's happy." Then she frowns, and continues "But it's strange, not knowing what he's really like."

"That's exactly my point!" I burst out. "He says he's a school boy, but so could I!" Buffy stands by, ready as always to poke the hole in my argument. "Yeah, but you are a school boy." I sigh, because she's not getting it. "I could also say that I'm an elderly Dutch woman, and who'd disbelieve me if I said it in the elderly Dutch woman forum?"

"I get you point... I get your point! Gods, he could be anyone! He's probaly some creepazoid, some crazy guy - Xander, we have to stop her!" I feel happy that she's agreeing with me, until she slaps me on the arm. Oh boy, that's going to bruise. She doesn't know her own strength. "Xander! Stop getting me started! She's probably fine." She says, but then, in a musing tone of voice, says "Nevertheless, I think we should go with her on her first date. If it gets that far."

I feel satisfied that my goal is accomplished, and head to my next lesson. I hope that something doesn't happen to Willow when we're not there...

Buffy

"He's right, you know." comes a voice from behind me. I whirl around, my heart beating fast. But it's still daylight, no vampires will be out yet. Theo's standing there, perfectly calm, not as though he'd dissapeared without a trace for a week, then reappeared without a word of explanation. "It's not right, this Malcolm fellow seems creepy." Ha! I have to deal with another jealous man. "Are you sure he's creepy or are you just jealous?" I ask, playfully. I couldn't resist needling him for all those times he'd contested my decisions about Slaying activities.

He draws himself up, as though to hotly deny it, then sags slightly, with a sigh. "Have I been that obvious?" He says, in a tired voice. For the first time, he doesn't look like some kind of powerhouse of vitality, just someone who is, for whatever reason, struggling to hold himself together. I feel a wave of sympathy for him, and decide not to taunt him anymore.

"No, you haven't. I think it's just me that has noticed - I saw the way you were around her when Xander was possessed by a Hyena." I say gently. He stares of into the distance, his eyes glowing sliver from reflecting the sun. Then he shakes himself. "Anyway, back to matter in hand. Do you want me to find out about this Malcolm? I made a program that should be able to track him." I think for a moment, but decided to use the power that he had handed me. "No, not yet. Wait for a while, see if he says anything strange. Then, yes, abolutely." He nods, and rapidly walks away.

Suddenly, a thought strikes me. His eyes had reflected silver. Why? Surely the sun would make them golden?

It must have been only my imagination.


	30. Chapter 30

Next day

I've been worried about Willow all day, wondering if this Malcolm guy had done something to her and she was lying face done in a ditch somewhere, and I hadn't been able to save her, and suddenly she just ambled in at fifth period, utterly unconcerned and unbothered by the looks she was getting. Everyone seemed surprised that Willow, of all people was late.

"Hey, Late Girl!" I call out, happy that she's here and trying to make light of he situation. Maybe she has a good reason for being hours late? "I overslept." she says flatly, not even looking at me. Damnit, what isn't she telling me? She never was very good at lying.

"Talking to Malcolm again last night?" I begin, determined to worm it out of her no matter how long it might take. "Yes" she replies, in exactly the same tone as before. Then suddenly, she turns to me and looks angry. Seeing an angry Willow is sort of like being attacked by a mouse. It's very difficult not to be surprised.

"What's your problem? I've got a boyfriend, and your all over me, trying to make me drop him. Well, I won't! At least he's no vampire!" I look around to see if anyone had overheard that outburst, but they seemed to have left.

"So, he's a boyfriend then." I say cool tone, trying to avoid more flare ups. Willow flushes, "Yes... no... Oh, I don't know! What does it matter what I call him? I just like to talk to him, 'kay? What does it matter if I blow off a few classes anyway?" Ah, now the truth comes out.

"So, you skipped classes, did you? I thought you overslept." i say, trying to keep my tone neutral. "He said you wouldn't understand." She mutters in reply, before storming off. He was right - I don't. It looks like it's about time I took Theo up on his offer to find exactly what's going on.

I head to the library to look for him, knowing that if he's anywhere he'll be there. I really hope he can help, I don't want this crazy truanting Willow, I want the shy funny Willow who's my best friend!

I must have nearly run to the library to have got there as fast as I had, but there were the doors, looming in front of me. I've never noticed how dark and creepy they look, not at all suitable for a school. Shaking off the sudden dread that had crept over me or some reason, I push open the door.

Theo's over by the entrance in the stacks, and Giles is probably somewhere further in. As soon as Theo hears the doors open, he turns to see me there. He calmly and deliberatly walks over, not at all in the rush I expected him to be in. I wonder again where he was for the last week.

"Well?" He asks me, still calm, his face impassive. "Find out who he is." I say, simply, knowing I don't need to say anything else. A smile passes like lightning across his face, before he walks over to a computer. His fingers dance over the keyboard in a blur, and after a few moments the computer, which I would have sworn was off, flikers into life, showing a black screen with the letters "Project Austen" written in white. "Project Austen?" I question, and he shrugs. "I like Jane Austen." I'm assuming that's one of the many authors he spends his nights reading.

Once again, his fingers dance over the keyboard, typing "Hack Willow Rosenberg, UC Sunnydale" Instantaneously, a message pops up saying "Done". "Open emails, trace Malcolm Black" Again, the computer responds instantly, this time with the cryptic message "Branch. Follow?" Theo replies (for it does seem almost like a conversation) "Follow to conclusion"

"Impossible" I find myself baffled at the exchange that had taken somewhat less than a minute. Theo seemes just as dissapointed, but for different reasons. "What just happened?" I demand shortly, when he shows no sign of answering. "Either Malcolm is even better with computers than I am, or he doesn't exist. Seeing as how nothing can stop this program, I suspect the latter". Well well! What is it about our little gang and falling for monsters? A vampire, a Praying Mantis and some non-existent computer demon.

Preoccupied with my thoughts, I leave the library without a word. Theo doesn't seem to mind - or if he had he hadn't said anything. I see Dave, walking furtively through the corridors, trying to look inconspicous and therefore standing out more than ever. He's one of Fritz's crew, and I wouldn't be surprised if a demon in the internet (if it does exist, of course. Theo could still be wrong) would choose them as its cronies. I decide to follow him.

30 minutes later

I followed Dave to a place initialled CRD, on the outskirts of Sunnydale. I wonder what's going on, or why all the technicians in their white coats would call for a teenager, no matter how good with computers he might be. I think its about time someone told Giles and Xander about this.

Back at the library.

Giles, xander and Theo are all gathered around the book-covered centre table in the library, gazing at me as hoguh hanging onto every word - Well, Giles and Xander, anyway. Theo's doodling again. Nevertheless, two out of three isn't bad.

"Well, I saw Dave looking suspicious, no naturally I followed him. He went straight to some corporate-looking place, CRD. I didn't get close enough to see what it was -"

I was cut of by Xander, of all people, and he was actually sharing knowledge. What's the world coming to? "Calax Research and Developement. It was one of the biggest employers in Sunnydale, until it closed down about a year ago." Then he blushed self-consciously when everyone, even Theo, turns to look at him in surprise. "My uncle worked there. As a sweeper."

"Anyway" I say, taking charge once again "We need to check this place out. Anyone free tonight?" Both Xander and Theo raise their hands, although Theo is still sketching at the same time. How can he do that?

Before Giles can say anything in protest, we file out of the room to go to our next lesson. Well, I have to go to my locker first, but the principle is still the same.

When I arrive, I hear the sound of running water. Seeing as how everyone should be in lessons right now, it must mean that someone lest the water running. Not wanting to get blamed for it - I can do without more detentions - I go to turn it off. Unfortunatley, my feet will get soaked, but that's a small price to pay.

I head over there and quickly turn off the tap, then turn back. Suddenly, Dave's there, shouting "Jump Buffy!" and I see a sparking wire at his feet. I jump, but too slowly. I'm blasted off my feet, and I don't even remember landing.


	31. Chapter 31

Buffy

I'm really hoping that the reason my Dad turned up and said... all that stuff (I can't even think about it!) was the same reason that Wendel was suddenly covered in spiders and and Laura got attacked by something. In Sunnydale these kind of things are possible. Speaking of which, there's nothing I can do to help anyone if I'm just sitting here moping, is there? Back to the library. I'm betting Giles won't notice my somewhat puffy, red eyes, and if he does, he'll be too English to mention it. He'll probably want to shout at me a bit more about trusting Theo. Well, I'm perfectly happy to let him do that.

It's back to the library for me. It's rather amusing that I spend more time there than in my classes. At least there's no one around right now, they're all in class. It's quiet. Free space. Good, I need it to recuperate. I don't even care that Theo and Willow are standing on the green holding hands. In fact, it's nice to see. Someone deserves to be happy. Nevertheless, I'm still glad they haven't seen me, I wouldn't want to ruin their moment.

By the time I'm back at the library, I'm feeling infinitely better. And I was right - although Giles did see my eyes, judging by the slight hesitation after greeting me, he doesn't say a word. Gods, but that's comforting. Not that I get the chance to be comfortable for very long. No, it's off to visit the hospitalized Laura for me. A Slayer's job is never done. Speaking of which, I need to tell Giles to drive us there. It's useful having and adult around, for transport. Wow, I feel like Willow so often acts - jumping from topic to topic. That meeting with hopefully-not-Dad really shook me up.

Anyway, we walk in companionable silence to his ancient, battered car, and I realise how much I take Giles for granted. I always rely on him to know what's going on, and not once do I consider how much work he puts into being a Watcher, and how I'm so reluctant to have anything to do with being a Slayer. I don't tell him any of this, of course - even if I'd wanted to, I'd have no idea of what to say. I'll just have to try to be a little more considerate in future. If I remember to be.

Suddenly, we're at the hospital. I must have been so involved in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the journey. Or maybe time's speeding up, like it had in that history exam. Something weird is definitely going on here - speaking of which, I need to speak to Willow or Xander about what they found out from Wendel. Probably Xander, 'cause I'm guessing Willow might be a little occupied right now. Anyway, it's not as if I can do anything right now, because my cell died this morning. Talk about bad luck. We ask the receptionist to take us to Laura (one of the advantages of living in a small town is we don't need to give her last name. Which is good, because I don't know it.) but instead she directs us to her doctor.

This doctor, in a strangely calm voice (I suppose, in a place like Sunnydale, you'd end up seeing a lot of injuries. I just hope I don't end up being so blasé about it. I also hope he doesn't end up seeing lots of my injuries.) tells us about her injuries: "Broken ribs, fractured arm, and she'll need some stitching around her eyes. She's still unconscious, but we think she should wake up. All in all, she got off pretty lucky." "Lucky?" breaks in Giles, before I have a chance to, "Are you aware of the definition of lucky? Because this certainly isn't it." The doctor looks at him with raised eyebrows, a little surprised by his vehemence. I smile to myself at this response. With a negligent gesture (I really hope I don't end up like this guy! He's so cold!) at another ward in the same corridor, showing a little boy with an extremely beaten face, he says "The first one still hasn't woken up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." and strides off without further ado. The boy looks familiar. I try to imagine him with out the bruises or the stitches - and gasp as the realization hits me. Giles looks at me in alarm (well, his eyes widened. He's too English to do much else.) and I say "That boy, I've seen him before, twice! Just before the spiders, and again before Laura was attacked. Then, when I looked back for him, he was gone!"

Giles looked at me incredulously, obviously wondering if I'd suddenly gone insane. Then his face lights up with realization, and he asks me, urgently "Buffy, I'm going to ask you a personal question. You don't have to tell me what happened, but I need you to answer this question. When your dad took you out of the library, the things he said to you: were they things you'd often feared he'd say?" I nod slowly, because I couldn't speak. I feel as though my throat had closed up, and I was having difficulty breathing. Giles didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. I could tell that he understood, that he wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort me, but that he didn't know how to. I raised my arms, clearly inviting a hug. I felt so fragile then, I really needed a shoulder to cry on. Which is exactly what I did, after he enveloped me. I cried myself empty, and I felt at home.

Eventually, after aeons, we disengaged and headed for the exit, me feeling possibly the best I've felt since coming to Sunnydale (bar Angel's kiss, but I try not to think about that.) Giles says nothing more than he's got a theory, but nothing about what it is, only that he needs to research it. Nevertheless, it might be the only lead we have. To the library!

Willow

The bell rings, our time is up. I'm not ready to be seen by the whole school holding hands. I doubt that I ever will be. I drop Theo's hand (is it my imagination, or does he look disappointed?) then say "I should really go and tell Giles what we learnt from Wendel." Theo pauses for a moment, before saying "Must you? Surely Xander's already been and told them."

Interesting. So he knew that I was there with Xander, before I went after him. I should've known that I couldn't have caught him if he hadn't wanted me to do so. Nevertheless, I still think we should tell Giles, and I tell him so. With a sigh, he aquiesces, and we head for the dark and claustrophobic interior of the school. (Yeah, I'm guess I'm reluctant to give up this perfect moment as well. But any second now, the mob'll arrive. Not the gangsters, the school-children. Although there doesn't seem to be much of a difference...) These absurd ideas occupy me for the entirety of our journey to the library. Theo, walking somewhat quicker than I do (how does he move his feet that fast?) gets there first, and holds the door open from the inside. I'm still half way down the corridor, when two men, dressed in expensive tuxedos, grab me by either arm and lead me away. One of them says "Ms. Rosenberg, where have you been? The performance starts in a few minutes, there's barely time for your make-up!" he sounds faintly Italian (maybe it really is the mob!) and I have no idea what's going on. I want to call for Theo, but suddenly my throat dries up as I realise something.

He'd said "performance". Nightmares are coming true. Now, I'm going to have to perform in front of everyone, and it'll be a disaster. I can't do it. I try to escape, to say that it's some kind of mistake, but these men's arms are like iron, they don't listen to a word I say. I want to call out "Somebody please help me!" but my voice simply won't work. I can only hope that someone will, otherwise I'll be horribly embarassed and my world will end.

I'm dragged up to a stage (mercifully behind a curtain... But how long until that curtain is lifted?) snd rapidly put into a kimono and covered with some kind of pasty white make up. Then one of them gives the call for the curtain to lift... which it doesn't. "Stop!" calls a familiar voice "You've got the wrong person!" It's Xander, running up to me, he grabs me by the arm, saying all the while how everyone made a mistake, I'm not the right person, they should let me go. But as the men in tuxedos move to pull us apart, even he gradually dries up. They're huge.

Yet, strangely, I get angry. I'm not going to stand for this. "Why don't you just leave me alone?" I shriek at them. They all jump, even Xander. Then I stride off, retaining my dignity, aware all the while of Xander gaping at me, mouth open, jogging to stay at my side. I feel... amazing. Freer. Wonderful. Then there's an odd shimmer in the air, and my clothes turn back to normal. I raise my hand to my face, and the make-up's gone too. I turn back, and the stage and the tuxedo guys are all gone too. Like it had all been a dream. Suddenly I feel dizzy. Had I really just done that?

Another familar voice calls out "Well done!". I look around for the source of this voice, then see Theo sitting on the floor, back braced against the floor, face taut with pain, eyes bright and feverish. "What's wrong with you?" I blurt out, before I can think to phrase it any more politely. "I couldn't let that curtain go up now, could I? So I stopped it. Now, every fibre of my body is filled with a fiery agony." He says cheerfully, clearly trying not to alarm us. It isn't very sucsessful.

Xander grabs my arm and says urgently "Willow, we need to find Buffy now, and stop whatever's going on here!" I look at him, curious at the sudden panic. "Why all the urgency? And where have all your normal clothes gone?" I say, noticing he's wearing a spare P.E uniform. He blushes, and only answers the first part "So far, all the dreams have been harmless, more or less. But it only takes one person to have a nightmare about a bombing, or about some kind of monster coming loose - if we don't stop it, people are going to die." He's right, I realise. We'd just been lucky that no one had died thus far. "Where do you suggest we start?" Before I'd even fully finished, he starts saying "Have you looked outside?" he pulls me over to a window. Across the street is a cemetery. At night. There's normally no cemetery there, and it's the middle of the day. Buffy's got to be there.

"You go on ahead." says Theo, still from his position on the floor. "Once I've recovered, I'll catch up to you." I nod, and Xander leads the way. We've got to save Sunnydale. Again.

Theo

They're gone at last, and I can drop façade. Not that it had helped much - they'd both seen through it - but it's better than them seeing me screaming in pain. Which I won't do. I've got it under control now. My head sinks to my chest and my eyes close as I concentrate on holding back the pain.

What use is it to have all this power if I can't use it without feeling as though I'm going to die? All I'd done was burnt through a rope. From about thirty feet away... Which took up a lot of energy. opeing the library doors earlier had only given me pins and needle (pretty bad ones) for a second. So, the more energy I use, the worse I feel. Makes sense.

Someone's there. I can hear them breathing. Why hadn't I heard their footsteps? I look up see a beautiful woman - black hair, green eyes, pale. She looks unbearably familar. I feel certain I know her, feel sure that I'd seen her before. The pain was suddenly gone, although I felt that it shouldn't have been. It had something to do with her... As soon as i think of getting up, I am. It's always struck as odd that everyone else can't do that.

"Who are you?" I ask, moving towards her. She doesn't answer, merely smiles enigmatically. I stop, very close to her. She doesn't seem to mind. "Who are you? Why do you seem so familar?"

She puts her finger on my lips, silencing me, and my mind blew away like dandelion seeds in the wind.

Willow

Is it just me, or are these corridors becoming more and more labyrinthine? I'm sure it didn't use to take this long to get outside. Or maybe it did. Or maybe it's another nightmare. Or maybe I'm just stressed, therefore it seems to be taking much longer than it normally would.

Suddenly, Xander stops and stoops down, picking up a a chocolate bar, which he puts into his pocket. He moves on, into a side corridor. Now, I know that that is the wrong way. I call for him to stop, but he doesn't. Every few steps he just stops, picks up another chocolate bar, pockets it, and moves on. Come to think of it, I'd never seen this corridor here before... it must be another nightmare. Xander's nightmare.

I grab his arm, trying to pull him away, to get back to our mission, but he slips away easily, waltzing around me before continuing. It's like he's in a trance, or hypnotized by the magnetism of chocolate. Either way, I knew that this wasn't going to end until he'd come to the nightmarish part. Which could be at any time.

Speaking of which, we reach the end of the corridor (Well, not exactly the end. There was a sheet of plastic at the end, as though it was still in construction.) Xander, upon seeing the final chocolate bar, drops the armful he had been carrying (he'd long since run out of pocket space), and picks it up, saying "A tornado bar! I love these! I haven't seen one of these since... My sixth birthday!" panic had begun to creep into his voice by the end of the sentence, although I had no idea why.

Suddenly, something tears it's way through the plastic wall, and Xander lets out an unmanly squeal and runs away, chocolate bars streaming out from his bulging pockets. Slowly, a clown, laughing manically, slices its way through the wall, and skips rapidly towards me, brandishing a knife. Taking Xander's lead, I turn and run away. This is no dream of humiliation, this is proper nightmare. Someone might actually die. As I run frantically away from the giggling menace, I hope that it isn't me.

Theo

I return to my body when I hear frantic footsteps pounding there way towards me. Hmm, what had just happened? Who had that woman been? No matter - she was gone now. But these people running towards me weren't.

It was Xander and Willow, returning from there trip (Had I really been out that long?) with something chasing them. A clown? This nightmare business is rather odd. I'm glad I don't dream.

As I think that, I realise something. I knew these were dream creatures. Because I knew they were dreams, I had some influence over them, like a lucid dream. They couldn't hurt me, because I knew they weren't real. So, as Xander and Willow went flying past me, I walked by and stood, perfectly calmly, in front of the knife-wielding lunatic clown. I had to test out this theory.

As the clown came bouncing towards me, knife slashing the air, I felt something cannon into me side, pushing me out of the way of the knife. Willow had pushed me out of the way. But she'd thought the flown and his knife had been real.

The knife had been real for her. It had caught her between the neck and her shoulder. Willow was dying


	32. Chapter 32

Buffy

I wake up, bright and early in the morning, ready for a day of school and a later raid on CRD, feeling great. I feel as though I hadn't been shocked at all. I quickly get dressed and ready to leave, eager to get to school early so Giles can tell me if he's had any progress. I doubt that he has - I don't think he'll have worked up the courage to have talked to Ms. Calendar yet. I wonder what's going on between them?

I leave my house, and am startled by Xander, leaning against my gate and looking as though he's half asleep. What's he doing? I know he has a crush on me, but really, camping outside my house? Mom could've seen him. What's he thinking?

I walk towards him, intent on chasing this tresspasser of my land. Suddenly, he jerks, persumably having realised that I'm there. "Buffy!" he says in a cracked voice. He clears his throat loudly before trying again. "Buffy, thank goodness your awake. I didn't want to call you, in case the internet demon could hear. Or your Mom. We need to go and raid CRD! Oh gods, when I think of him, and her, together - Urg!" he mumbles incoherently. I resist the urge to slap this hysteria out of him, and settle for asking him, quite calmly, "What the hell are you on about?". Well, that is calm, for me, first thing in the morning.

He takes a deep, steadying breath, and I can see him visibly trying to control which words come pouring out of his mouth. "Yesterday, after we went home, I called Willow. There was no reply. I sent her an e-mail. No reply. I thought maybe she was on the Internet, talking to Malcolm and ignoring me. But then I wouldn't have been able to ring her, if she was on the Internet. So, I wondered why she didn't respond. I went round to her house - my parents were so drunk they were unconscious by that point, and they didn't care what I did. Anyway, at her house, the door was left open. This being Willow we're talking about, who never leaves a door open if she doesn't have to, I decided to check her room. Just to see if she was okay, you understand. She wasn't there, but there was a message on her computer. "No more waiting. I need you to see me." Buffy, we need to raid CRD right now, we can't wait until after school!"

Bloody hell, Malcolm, or Moloch, or whatever its bloody name is had taken Willow. Xander was right, we needed to get her back right now! If she's been there all night, I dread to think what might've happened to her...

Nevertheless, first things first. We'll need back up - We'll go down to the library and pick up Theo, and tell Giles to get a move on with his banishing spell. After all, if we banish it, we won't have to fight it, will we? And I guess we'll just have to take being in trouble for blowing off school.

Unfortunately, I'd neglected to tell Xander this whilst I strode quickly to school, and he was tugging my sleeve and begging me whilst he almost-jogged to keep up. Focus now, no time for distractions. Get Willow, get out. That's all.

I burst through the library doors, and for once, Giles isn't startled at all. On the contary, he looked like he'd expected us. I look a question at Xander, and he answers with a wry smile. Yes, he had been here before coming to get me.

"Theo!" I call, loudly, not bothering who hears me. Speed is of the essence. "You rang?" comes a voice from behind me, and I jump. Who does he do that? No one moves that quietly! However, if he's able to joke it means he hasn't heard the news. I decide not to tell him Willow's been taken - I need him clear headed, not fuzzy with emotion. "We're going to CRD. Now. Coming?" I endeavour to make the last word sound like a question rather than an order, knowing that he doesn't react to those to well. He nods, suddenly serious.

Outside CRD, some time later. Looking through the wire fence.

Xander and I climb over the fence whilst Theo keeps a look out - don't want to bump into Fritz or his cronies. I manage it easily, jumping down lightly onto the otherside, but Xander doesn't, sprawling in a heap on the floor. He gets up quickly though, eager to show that he's fit and ready for action. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him along? Too late for doubts now.

On the other side of the fence, Theo pulls something from his sleeve. There's a sharp click, and suddenly he's holding a six foot metal pole. He takes a few steps back, then, with the grace of an athlete, flawlessly polevaults over the fence. I guess he must have been an athlete of some kind in a past life. I don't bother to say anything, just lead the way inside, alhough Xander does gawp at him in surprise. You'd think he's be used to Theo doing odd things by now.

We get to the back entrance, which is obviously locked, but, fortunately, not guarded. Summoning my Slayer strength, and hoping I dont twist an ankle in the process, I kick it. It splinters. I kick it again, but nothing happens. With a final effort, I kick it again, and it collapses. Puffing from the effort (I've got to work out more. I mean, really, getting out of breath from kicking a door? I'm no Xander.) I lead the way inside.

A guard come rushing out of an adjacent room, no doubt attracted by the commotion, but before he reaches me, Theo's pole (I've got to come up with another name for it. That sounds absurd. No, Buffy, focus.) slides along the floor, tangling with the man's legs, causing him to crashe heavily to the ground, but he doesn't get up. Good, he's unconscious. Seemingly before I can blink, Theo's in front of me, extricating his stick (No, that's not any better) from the man's legs and heading into the room the guard came from. What right does he have to take the iniative like that? I'm the Slayer here, after all.

Before I can even move, he stocks his head back round the door again, his face ashen. "Guys, I think you'd better come and see this." Unnerved that something could scare Mr. Calm, I head into the room, Xander trailing along at my heels.

There's what seems to be a large TV screen on one wall, showing a darkened room. In that room, there's a table, with an unconscious Willow lying on it. Oh gods, please let her be unconscious! But that's not all. A patch of darkness behind the table that I'd taken to be some kind of machinery shits slightly, and the suddenly the camera zooms in on that figure. On it's eyes. Glowing green eyes that don't belong to any creature, eyes that look like green bulbs. I feel as though the earth moved slightly beneath my feet - Willow, in the grips of some monstrous demon-robot that can control the Internet. And worse, one that knows that we're here.

Suddenly, from behind us there's a loud thunk, followed by a hissing sound. I spin around, to see that the door had been locked behind us, and that a pipe just above it had begun leaking some kind of noxious white gas. The merest breath of it made me feel dizzy, and there's a lot more of it being pumped into the room every second.

I try to head towards the door, to try anything - anything! - to break out, but my feet won't obey me, and I crash to the floor. Dizzy, I try to crawl towards a door that now seems covered in sparks. Great, hallucinations. Just what I need right now. I gigle at the thought, then sober when I realise that we're trapped, and I led us here to die.

Giles, just after the others left for CRD

I keep glancing at the library door, waiting for her to come through. That blasted Calendar woman, who's first name I don't even know. Will she think I'm crazy for thinking there's a demon in the Internet? Why do I care what she thinks? These thoughts and countless others like them swarm through my mind every second whilst I wait.

And then she walks in. I can tell, instantly, even though I wasn't looking at the door right then. I had to try very hard not to spin around and start stammering the whole problem at her. Gods, I'm acting like some schoolboy, like Buffy! I've got to get a grip, the others might be in danger right now, and I'm no good to them like this.

"I got your message. What's the problem?" Her voice sends shivers down my spine, but I ignore them. I have to. "Yes. Right. Thanks for coming." I turn around to face her at last, although I focus on a point about six inches to her left. I laugh nervously, aware of how what I'm going to say will sound. "Well, you see, I have a problem. I need your help. Unfortunately, you made need to believe something..." I take a deep steadying breath, and decide just to blurt it out. Once It's out in the open, she can take it or leave it. "I'm afraid that there's a demon in the Internet."

Her voice replies calmly "I know." My eyes snap to her face, my feelings disappear. This is more urgent than I'd thought! Had Moloch got to her? But her face is so calm, save the slight smile for my obvious surprise. No, she's not one of them, but who is she? Or what?

Whilst my thoughts run on in this inane way, she continues speaking, absently pacing up and down as she does so. "I've been seeing the portents for days. It's probably one of the mischief demons. Kelkor perhaps..." She trails of, looking at me intently. I couldn't help but feel flustered. "It's Moloch." I stammer, as I try to pass the conversation back to her. Her mouth opens in surprise - had I looked like that? - "The Corruptor? I should have realised."

Strangely, this admission that she doesn't know everything made me feel much better. "You don't seem surprised by all of this." I state, quite calmly. I'm proud of how calmly I managed it. "Who exactly are you? The profession of a Computer teacher doesn't exactly lend itself to the reading of bones. Are you a witch?" She shakes her head regretfully, saying "I don't have that kind of power. No, I'm a techno-pagan. There are more of us than you might think."

I too shake my head, trying to get all of this out of my head and focus on the business at hand - banishing Moloch. "I have the spell to trap him again - but it only works for a creature of the flesh, which he currently isn't. So, you being the only one I could think of who might be able to help in this sort of situation, I decided to bring you in. So, got a plan?" I say brusquely, getting into the swing of things. She reddens slightly - was that a blush? - before becoming the disparaging person she had been the last time I'd met her. "Oh, Rupert, don't you know anything? We have to form a circle." I blink in surprise - forming a circle is the standard way to bind Moloch, but it wouldn't work in this situation. I decide to go for the flippant approach. "A circle? There's only two of us - that's more of a line"

She smiles at me indulgently, and I'm thankful that I happen to be leaning on a table, because that smile makes my knees go weak. "No, a circle online. I'll send a message to my coven, and they'll will do the spell with us." Interesting idea - If we begin the spell inside the medium, we coud trap him... It's worth a try, in any case.

She sits at a computer preparing her message whilst I hunt for the book with the binding spell in it. I'm sure I had it a few moments ago... but then again, a few moments ago I had been so flustered I hadn't know where I'd put it. It takes me a few minutes to find the book, but that's not a problem because it took a few minutes for her online coven - Who ever heard of such a thing? - to get ready.

I begin to read the spell, her typing it as I go.

Willow

I hear voices murmuring in the distance, so very far away. I feel as though I'm filled with cotton wool - everything is far away, kept away. Nothing is real.

I groggily open my eyes, and try to get up. Nope, that's not working just yet. Better stay here a little longer. I wonder what happened to me? I remember getting home, going upstairs. Someone rang on the door...

Oh hell. Malcolm's got me. A voice cuts through my thoughts, the computer voice that Malcolm uses in his e-mails. But if he has me, why would he not speak normally? "Willow, you're finally awake. I had thought that Fritz might have over done it with the chloroform. But it's so nice to see you. With my own eyes." Suddenly I'm aware of a massive presence looming over me. With luminous green eyes. Great, so not only is Malcolm evil, but he's a demon. A robot demon, what's more. Figures.

He continues, unaware of the fear he'd inspired in me. "This world is so exciting. Better even than the last time I was free. I know the secrets of your kings, your rulers. Everything flows thourgh me. I know everything, control everything. Oh, the devastation I can cause." He speaks in a flat, monotone way, no inflections at all. I have to get away.

I swing upwards, making a dash for the door in the hope that I can open it, but two arms grab mine, holding me in place. Fritz and some technician. Malcolm continues on, unbothered by the situation. "But nothing compares to being able to feel again." He puts his hand on Fritz's head, and Fritz looks at him in adulation. "To kill." Malcolm twists his hand sharply, with a sickening crack. Fritz drops to floor, his neck twisted at an impossible angle. Dead. Yet I can't manage to feel a single drop of pity for him, he deserved everything he got and more.

"What do you want with me?" I ask suspiciously, whilst I surrpetitiously try to escape the technicians grip. To no avail. "I wan't to give you everything. The world. You gave me my freedom."

I struggle more viciously against he grip, suddenly incredibly angry. "Let me leave!" I growl menacingly. At least, I hope that's how it came across. Malcolm cocks his head to one side, as though trying to understand. "But I love you." He states in his flat, monotone voice. "You don't love me! You don't love anything!"

His head drops to his chest as he contemplates my statement. Then rises again, and for the first time I hear a hint of an emotion in his voice. Anger. "Pity" he says, as he puts his hand on my head. So heavy and cold. I can't believe that I'm about to die, not like this.

Suddenly, the hand is lifted, and Malcolm begins to writhe in pain. What happened? Not that I'm complaining.

A swipe of a massive hand hits the technician holding me, slamming him against the wall. Unconscious or dead, I don't really care. I try the door, but it's locked. I settle down to watch the show, hoping that he doesn't recover, and knowing that there will be nothing I can do If he does.

_Authors note_

_I'm aware that this section on Malcolm is rather longer than the others, this is because, for my plot, it is important and also because there is a lot going on in it. I'm planning for at probably two more chapters, both of which will be of great importance._

_Oh, and sorry for the slight cursing early on, but really, if your best friend was kidnapped, wouldn't you say bloody too? That's about as far as I'll go though - that and damn._

_Once again, I hope you have enjoyed the story thus far_


	33. Chapter 33

Buffy

I wake up, bright and early in the morning, ready for a day of school and a later raid on CRD, feeling great. I feel as though I hadn't been shocked at all. I quickly get dressed and ready to leave, eager to get to school early so Giles can tell me if he's had any progress. I doubt that he has - I don't think he'll have worked up the courage to have talked to Ms. Calendar yet. I wonder what's going on between them?

I leave my house, and am startled by Xander, leaning against my gate and looking as though he's half asleep. What's he doing? I know he has a crush on me, but really, camping outside my house? Mom could've seen him. What's he thinking?

I walk towards him, intent on chasing this tresspasser of my land. Suddenly, he jerks, persumably having realised that I'm there. "Buffy!" he says in a cracked voice. He clears his throat loudly before trying again. "Buffy, thank goodness your awake. I didn't want to call you, in case the internet demon could hear. Or your Mom. We need to go and raid CRD! Oh gods, when I think of him, and her, together - Urg!" he mumbles incoherently. I resist the urge to slap this hysteria out of him, and settle for asking him, quite calmly, "What the hell are you on about?". Well, that is calm, for me, first thing in the morning.

He takes a deep, steadying breath, and I can see him visibly trying to control which words come pouring out of his mouth. "Yesterday, after we went home, I called Willow. There was no reply. I sent her an e-mail. No reply. I thought maybe she was on the Internet, talking to Malcolm and ignoring me. But then I wouldn't have been able to ring her, if she was on the Internet. So, I wondered why she didn't respond. I went round to her house - my parents were so drunk they were unconscious by that point, and they didn't care what I did. Anyway, at her house, the door was left open. This being Willow we're talking about, who never leaves a door open if she doesn't have to, I decided to check her room. Just to see if she was okay, you understand. She wasn't there, but there was a message on her computer. "No more waiting. I need you to see me." Buffy, we need to raid CRD right now, we can't wait until after school!"

Bloody hell, Malcolm, or Moloch, or whatever its bloody name is had taken Willow. Xander was right, we needed to get her back right now! If she's been there all night, I dread to think what might've happened to her...

Nevertheless, first things first. We'll need back up - We'll go down to the library and pick up Theo, and tell Giles to get a move on with his banishing spell. After all, if we banish it, we won't have to fight it, will we? And I guess we'll just have to take being in trouble for blowing off school.

Unfortunately, I'd neglected to tell Xander this whilst I strode quickly to school, and he was tugging my sleeve and begging me whilst he almost-jogged to keep up. Focus now, no time for distractions. Get Willow, get out. That's all.

I burst through the library doors, and for once, Giles isn't startled at all. On the contary, he looked like he'd expected us. I look a question at Xander, and he answers with a wry smile. Yes, he had been here before coming to get me.

"Theo!" I call, loudly, not bothering who hears me. Speed is of the essence. "You rang?" comes a voice from behind me, and I jump. Who does he do that? No one moves that quietly! However, if he's able to joke it means he hasn't heard the news. I decide not to tell him Willow's been taken - I need him clear headed, not fuzzy with emotion. "We're going to CRD. Now. Coming?" I endeavour to make the last word sound like a question rather than an order, knowing that he doesn't react to those to well. He nods, suddenly serious.

Outside CRD, some time later. Looking through the wire fence.

Xander and I climb over the fence whilst Theo keeps a look out - don't want to bump into Fritz or his cronies. I manage it easily, jumping down lightly onto the otherside, but Xander doesn't, sprawling in a heap on the floor. He gets up quickly though, eager to show that he's fit and ready for action. Maybe I shouldn't have brought him along? Too late for doubts now.

On the other side of the fence, Theo pulls something from his sleeve. There's a sharp click, and suddenly he's holding a six foot metal pole. He takes a few steps back, then, with the grace of an athlete, flawlessly polevaults over the fence. I guess he must have been an athlete of some kind in a past life. I don't bother to say anything, just lead the way inside, alhough Xander does gawp at him in surprise. You'd think he's be used to Theo doing odd things by now.

We get to the back entrance, which is obviously locked, but, fortunately, not guarded. Summoning my Slayer strength, and hoping I dont twist an ankle in the process, I kick it. It splinters. I kick it again, but nothing happens. With a final effort, I kick it again, and it collapses. Puffing from the effort (I've got to work out more. I mean, really, getting out of breath from kicking a door? I'm no Xander.) I lead the way inside.

A guard come rushing out of an adjacent room, no doubt attracted by the commotion, but before he reaches me, Theo's pole (I've got to come up with another name for it. That sounds absurd. No, Buffy, focus.) slides along the floor, tangling with the man's legs, causing him to crashe heavily to the ground, but he doesn't get up. Good, he's unconscious. Seemingly before I can blink, Theo's in front of me, extricating his stick (No, that's not any better) from the man's legs and heading into the room the guard came from. What right does he have to take the iniative like that? I'm the Slayer here, after all.

Before I can even move, he stocks his head back round the door again, his face ashen. "Guys, I think you'd better come and see this." Unnerved that something could scare Mr. Calm, I head into the room, Xander trailing along at my heels.

There's what seems to be a large TV screen on one wall, showing a darkened room. In that room, there's a table, with an unconscious Willow lying on it. Oh gods, please let her be unconscious! But that's not all. A patch of darkness behind the table that I'd taken to be some kind of machinery shits slightly, and the suddenly the camera zooms in on that figure. On it's eyes. Glowing green eyes that don't belong to any creature, eyes that look like green bulbs. I feel as though the earth moved slightly beneath my feet - Willow, in the grips of some monstrous demon-robot that can control the Internet. And worse, one that knows that we're here.

Suddenly, from behind us there's a loud thunk, followed by a hissing sound. I spin around, to see that the door had been locked behind us, and that a pipe just above it had begun leaking some kind of noxious white gas. The merest breath of it made me feel dizzy, and there's a lot more of it being pumped into the room every second.

I try to head towards the door, to try anything - anything! - to break out, but my feet won't obey me, and I crash to the floor. Dizzy, I try to crawl towards a door that now seems covered in sparks. Great, hallucinations. Just what I need right now. I gigle at the thought, then sober when I realise that we're trapped, and I led us here to die.

Giles, just after the others left for CRD

I keep glancing at the library door, waiting for her to come through. That blasted Calendar woman, who's first name I don't even know. Will she think I'm crazy for thinking there's a demon in the Internet? Why do I care what she thinks? These thoughts and countless others like them swarm through my mind every second whilst I wait.

And then she walks in. I can tell, instantly, even though I wasn't looking at the door right then. I had to try very hard not to spin around and start stammering the whole problem at her. Gods, I'm acting like some schoolboy, like Buffy! I've got to get a grip, the others might be in danger right now, and I'm no good to them like this.

"I got your message. What's the problem?" Her voice sends shivers down my spine, but I ignore them. I have to. "Yes. Right. Thanks for coming." I turn around to face her at last, although I focus on a point about six inches to her left. I laugh nervously, aware of how what I'm going to say will sound. "Well, you see, I have a problem. I need your help. Unfortunately, you made need to believe something..." I take a deep steadying breath, and decide just to blurt it out. Once It's out in the open, she can take it or leave it. "I'm afraid that there's a demon in the Internet."

Her voice replies calmly "I know." My eyes snap to her face, my feelings disappear. This is more urgent than I'd thought! Had Moloch got to her? But her face is so calm, save the slight smile for my obvious surprise. No, she's not one of them, but who is she? Or what?

Whilst my thoughts run on in this inane way, she continues speaking, absently pacing up and down as she does so. "I've been seeing the portents for days. It's probably one of the mischief demons. Kelkor perhaps..." She trails of, looking at me intently. I couldn't help but feel flustered. "It's Moloch." I stammer, as I try to pass the conversation back to her. Her mouth opens in surprise - had I looked like that? - "The Corruptor? I should have realised."

Strangely, this admission that she doesn't know everything made me feel much better. "You don't seem surprised by all of this." I state, quite calmly. I'm proud of how calmly I managed it. "Who exactly are you? The profession of a Computer teacher doesn't exactly lend itself to the reading of bones. Are you a witch?" She shakes her head regretfully, saying "I don't have that kind of power. No, I'm a techno-pagan. There are more of us than you might think."

I too shake my head, trying to get all of this out of my head and focus on the business at hand - banishing Moloch. "I have the spell to trap him again - but it only works for a creature of the flesh, which he currently isn't. So, you being the only one I could think of who might be able to help in this sort of situation, I decided to bring you in. So, got a plan?" I say brusquely, getting into the swing of things. She reddens slightly - was that a blush? - before becoming the disparaging person she had been the last time I'd met her. "Oh, Rupert, don't you know anything? We have to form a circle." I blink in surprise - forming a circle is the standard way to bind Moloch, but it wouldn't work in this situation. I decide to go for the flippant approach. "A circle? There's only two of us - that's more of a line"

She smiles at me indulgently, and I'm thankful that I happen to be leaning on a table, because that smile makes my knees go weak. "No, a circle online. I'll send a message to my coven, and they'll will do the spell with us." Interesting idea - If we begin the spell inside the medium, we coud trap him... It's worth a try, in any case.

She sits at a computer preparing her message whilst I hunt for the book with the binding spell in it. I'm sure I had it a few moments ago... but then again, a few moments ago I had been so flustered I hadn't know where I'd put it. It takes me a few minutes to find the book, but that's not a problem because it took a few minutes for her online coven - Who ever heard of such a thing? - to get ready.

I begin to read the spell, her typing it as I go.

Willow

I hear voices murmuring in the distance, so very far away. I feel as though I'm filled with cotton wool - everything is far away, kept away. Nothing is real.

I groggily open my eyes, and try to get up. Nope, that's not working just yet. Better stay here a little longer. I wonder what happened to me? I remember getting home, going upstairs. Someone rang on the door...

Oh hell. Malcolm's got me. A voice cuts through my thoughts, the computer voice that Malcolm uses in his e-mails. But if he has me, why would he not speak normally? "Willow, you're finally awake. I had thought that Fritz might have over done it with the chloroform. But it's so nice to see you. With my own eyes." Suddenly I'm aware of a massive presence looming over me. With luminous green eyes. Great, so not only is Malcolm evil, but he's a demon. A robot demon, what's more. Figures.

He continues, unaware of the fear he'd inspired in me. "This world is so exciting. Better even than the last time I was free. I know the secrets of your kings, your rulers. Everything flows thourgh me. I know everything, control everything. Oh, the devastation I can cause." He speaks in a flat, monotone way, no inflections at all. I have to get away.

I swing upwards, making a dash for the door in the hope that I can open it, but two arms grab mine, holding me in place. Fritz and some technician. Malcolm continues on, unbothered by the situation. "But nothing compares to being able to feel again." He puts his hand on Fritz's head, and Fritz looks at him in adulation. "To kill." Malcolm twists his hand sharply, with a sickening crack. Fritz drops to floor, his neck twisted at an impossible angle. Dead. Yet I can't manage to feel a single drop of pity for him, he deserved everything he got and more.

"What do you want with me?" I ask suspiciously, whilst I surrpetitiously try to escape the technicians grip. To no avail. "I wan't to give you everything. The world. You gave me my freedom."

I struggle more viciously against he grip, suddenly incredibly angry. "Let me leave!" I growl menacingly. At least, I hope that's how it came across. Malcolm cocks his head to one side, as though trying to understand. "But I love you." He states in his flat, monotone voice. "You don't love me! You don't love anything!"

His head drops to his chest as he contemplates my statement. Then rises again, and for the first time I hear a hint of an emotion in his voice. Anger. "Pity" he says, as he puts his hand on my head. So heavy and cold. I can't believe that I'm about to die, not like this.

Suddenly, the hand is lifted, and Malcolm begins to writhe in pain. What happened? Not that I'm complaining.

A swipe of a massive hand hits the technician holding me, slamming him against the wall. Unconscious or dead, I don't really care. I try the door, but it's locked. I settle down to watch the show, hoping that he doesn't recover, and knowing that there will be nothing I can do If he does.

Buffy

Suddenly, the door slid upwards, and the gas stopped pouring through into the room. Not that I noticed right away, because I'd passed out, as had the others. I noticed that the area all around the wall seemed to be covered in tiny burn marks, and I wondered if those sparks I'd seen, that I'd thought were hallucinations, had been real. They must have been, I suppose - How else would they have got there?

I shake Xander awake, a much harder feat than even I would've expected. He sutubbornly refused to wake up, until I poked him in the side a few times. That quickly got his attention. He got up and wiped away some of the drool that had leaked from his mouth. I'm glad I hadn't drooled.

I move over to Theo, prepared to take pleasure in waking him up. It's not that I don't like him, you understand, it's just that... well, I guess it is that I just don't like him. Anyway, I move over and reach down to shake him, but in a blur of motion his hand grabs me by the wrist, and then he opens his eyes. A small smile plays around his lips as he rapidly gets up and heads for the door, not even waiting for us to follow. That's why I don't like him.

Of course, we follow him - What choice do we have? - and hope that he knows where he's going. Abruptly, he takes a sharp left, opening a door into a room. Guess we've found our guy! How did he know to come here? But that's a question for another time. He comes out quickly, Willow following close behind. "Let's go!" he said, urgently "Before it recovers!". Before what recovers from what?

I get my answer all too soon, when suddenly the wall collapses and the robot-demon we had seen on the security camera footage came strolling out, as though the wall was an open door. I fly kick him in the chest, hoping to slow him down a little, but he's like a juggernaught. I nearly sprain my ankle in the process, and he barely moves. He backhands Xander in the face as though he's nothing but an insect, sending him sliding meter's across the floor.

I make my self get back onto my feet, but quickly get knocked down again as he walks into me as if I'm not even there. He makes a beeline straight for Willow, whose leg was trapped underneath a piece of rubble from the collapsed wall, so she can only look on in horror as Death walks towards her. Moloch doesn't even notice the stone thrown at his head by Theo, so intent is it upon its goal. He picks Willow up by the neck with one hand, and slams her hard against the wall. Then he proceeds to slowly tighten his hand, choking the life from her. Her hands flly to her throat as she struggles weakly, then grows still. I can still see her breathe, though, so maybe she's only playing dead? I hope so.

Moloch seems to lose patience with this slow killing, and decides to speed things up a bit. He draws back his other claw, ready to let loose and killing blow. Knowing that there's nothing I can do to stop it, injured as I am, I close my eyes and turn my head away, already mourning, knowing that we'll be next.

"No" come a voice. A voice I recognized, but strangely changed. It was Theo's voice, but it sounded as though thousands of people we're speaking at exactly the same time. My eyes fly open and I look back at the scene, hoping against hope that he could save her. Theo had grabbed Moloch's arm in both hands, and somehow seemed to be holding it back. "Run", came those same voices, but I was dazed and couldn't move, and Xander was unconscious and Willow's still in Moloch's grip. Suddenly, Theo's eyes blazed silver, and tendrils of grey light streamed from him, picking us up. It was the oddest sensation I have ever felt. I couldn't feel the tendrils, and yet I was being lifted by them. My skin crawled. The tendrils took us and bundled us down the corridor, but I turned, determined to watch the scene until the very end. Theo stood there, still holding onto Moloch's arm, neither of them moving.

Suddenly, Moloch collapsed, literally falling to pieces for no reason that I could see. Theo stood there, still motionless, eyes blazing an inhuman silver, seeming to glow faintly with some sort of inner light. Then, abruptly, a vast wall of light erupted from him, and the tendrils dropped us. It seemed as though there was no escape from that, light, that it would pass over us and - I don't know. Something would happen.

But just as the light seemed as though it was about to wash over us, something happened. There was a sense of enormous distance and incredible speeds, yet we didn't seem to be moving. I couldn't see anything, but that was alright, because I got the feeling that there wasn't anything to see.

After an eternal few seconds, we were deposited somewhere. Somewhere normal, I could tell - I no longer felt as though I was being stretched and compressed at the same time. But where was a diffferent matter. I felt afraid to open my eyes, lest I see that same light rushing towards me. Lest it happened again.

Slowly, awareness stole over me. I felt fine, yet surely I should not? In the last couple of days, I'd been electrocuted, gassed and trounced by a robot-demon. Yet I felt as though I'd had a full nights sleep, and had days to recover.

That seemed promising. I opened my eyes.

The sun was just setting, and the sky was darkening. We had been gone for hours longer than I had expected. Impossible. Then I recall the events of the day, and realise that perhaps it wasn't so impossible after all. I turn around, hoping to find a familiar landmark, and to my surprise find that we were just outside the library. Good, now we can go and see Giles, find his take on the matter. I wonder what happened to Theo?

For the second time today, I try to wake Xander up, wondering as I do so why it's always me that wakes up first. I guess being a Slayer is good for something, right? This time, though, he wakes with very little prompting. He doesn't say anything upon waking, and I dont either. For some reason, it just feels as though that would be the wrong thing to do.

I contemplate trying to wake Willow up as well, but she, unlike Xander, looks exhausted, even sleeping as she is. I decide to let her sleep a little longer at least, and gently pick her up. Together, in silence, we head to the library, our shadows stretching out before us in the setting sun.

Giles is there, as I expected. He was pacing up and down, seeming extremely worried. I don't blame him, we had been gone far longer than we should have been. We could have - should have - been dead, and I had no doubt that he thought we might be. His face lit up when he saw us, and he rapidly strode towards us, beaming. He stopped abruptly when he saw our solemn faces, and Willow in my arms, and suddenly I could see how this must look.

I feel the urge to break the silence. "She's not dead, just sleeping." I tell him hurriedly, forestalling his questions. Xander and I head for the chairs, and we sit down. I place Willow gently on the one next to me. Giles, no doubt taking my response as grief or shock, checks her pulse. When he finds it, he relaxes greatly, and smiles again.

I settle down to relate to him what happened, in great detail, especially what Theo had done. Giles had already told me his theory about Theo being some link with the Powers That Be, not that I actually understood what they are. But this didn't seem to fit in with that. Once again, as I had so many times since he'd first appeared, I wondered what he was. and for the first time, I wondered if we could trust him.

Just as I'd finished telling him about out sudden reappearance outside, but before he could say anything, Theo walks in though the doors. Well, to say walk is an exageration. I'd say hobbled. He looked awful. He was pale, huge shadows under his eyes, and he moved as though in constant pain. He looked like a human - an ill human - which was something he'd never done before. For the first time since I'd met him, he looked like he actually do with some sleep.

He hobbled towards us and sprawled into a free chair. Only then does he even seem to notice we're there. He asks "Is she all right?" in a supremely tired voice, gesturing at Willow and grimacing in pain as he does so. I nod, and he smiles slightly, and seems to relax a little. Then he becomes aware that we're still staring at him, waiting for him to say something. I mean, after someone's eyes light up and they start glowing, you'd expect them to say something about it later, wouldn't you? However, he just settles for asking "What?" in a bland, disinterested tone.

Giles flares up. He seems genuinely angry. "What do you mean, "What"? What did you do? How? What happened to Moloch? What are you? Don't just sit there like some lump, be a bit forecoming and tell us what happened to you!" Theo just looks at him, mildly surprised. Suddenly, somthing clicks in my head, and I realise something.

Flashback- "Theo has been sent here by the Powers That Be - powerful, benign entities - to help you, Buffy. There have been countless similar tales, of mysterious peope with strange powers, generally flawed. That's why he can move so fast. I believe the flaw to be memories of dead people, which occasionally overpower him" said Giles, telling me about Theo's powers.

Flasback- Darla, a gun pointed at Theo's chest at point-blank range. She pulls the trigger, and the gun doesn't fire. Later, his eyes glinting silver, reflecting a light that wasn't there

Flasback- Theo's eyes, glowing silver in setting sun, reflecting light that couldn't possibly be there.

Flashback- Theo, dismantling the electric fence he made around Xander's cage barehanded, when only moments before the same fence had shocked me.

Giles had been right - mostly. Theo had been sent here by The Powers That Be, and he did have strange powers. But not just speed. I didn't understand everything, like what he's done today, but I felt as though I would, at any moment.

Then Theo spoke, with a sigh. "Giles, you were mostly right. Just not about the details." he gestured at his head, before continuing. "I've got something in my head. It's not me. Whatever it is, it's changing me, re-routing my mental pathways, changing me physically. Those memories I have, they're from it." He pauses for a moment, perhaps waiting for one of us to speak. When no one does, he continues. "I didn't realise this until after that business with Darla. But that's not all. When she shot me, I should've died. That pistol should have fired, and killed me. But it didn't. At the same time the pistol fired, I felt a strange surge, a sort of energy boost. It was only later that I realised that the energy that should've propelled the bullet into my heart had instead gone straight into me." So that's why the electric fence hadn't shocked him - he'd absorbed it. "I decided to stay away from you all after that for a while. I didn't feel safe. I could feel all the energy I'd absorbed unconsciously, seething beneath my skin. I didn't know what would happen, so I stayed away." He pauses a moment, his eyes flicking to Willow's sleeping form.

"But I couldn't stay away forever. I felt drawn back, so back I came, and quickly became embroiled in this Moloch business. I felt drawn to him, I felt that could sense him. So I went to him." He'd led us right to him, hadn't ever gone the wrong way. I'd wondered how he did it. "And when I touched him, when I tried to stop him killing Willow, I could feel the energy flowing through him. All that electricity to power his body. So, for the first time, I consciously took it. Unfortunately, something happened that I didn't expect - Moloch's life force was somehow tied to the machine, and by absorbing the electricity that powered it, I'd absorbed him as well."

"I lost control a little then, as he tried to take me over, or corrupt me. I didn't know what to do, so I tried to get you all as far away from me as I could, in case he was succsessful. Then I expelled all the energy, everything I'd absorbed since coming to Sunnydale." He paused again, then looked at Giles. "My speed is a side-effect from having excess energy inside me. The memories aren't a part of me, and I doubt they'll ever take control of me again. And I can absorb and transmit energy. So there's my powers for you. As for the flaws - well, using energy that I've already absorbed hurts, it hurts more than anything you can possibly imagine."

Well, gang, it looks like a mysteries been solved.

End of book 7

_Authors note_

_Well, I hope all the readers who have stuck with me this far are satisfied with this chapter. If your not, feel free to give recommendations on how to improve it, because it was very hard to write, especially Theo's speech at the end._

_Oh, and I will not be writing about the episode with the talent show (you know, the one with the demon-slaying puppet?), and will instead do the episode after that, "Nightmares." (so called because, surprisingly enough, there's peoples nightmares in it. Shocking, I know.)_


	34. Chapter 34

Slowly creeping through a dark, abandoned corridor, sneaking stealthily towards the steady flicker of candlelight up ahead. Hoping that I can get near enough to the Master to stake him.

I enter the room, to see a dark figure, his back turned to me. Careful to make no noise, I creep up behind him, ready to stake him from behind - why risk a fight if it's not necessary?

Then suddenly, he spins around, and I drop my stake with fear and shock. Far less human than any vampire I have ever seen, his face a chalky white and his eyes are red, surrounded by large, batlike ears. I back away as fast as he could, eager to get away from him, although I can't drop my eyes from his hypnotic gaze.

Then suddenly, abruptly, I can't back away any more, I've reached a wall. His hand darts out, seizing me by the throat. So cold...

Then I wake up, to me Mom shaking me, trying to get me out of bed. "Time for school!" she says in the cajoling tone she uses every morning, in the hope that it will actually make me want to go to school. Right now though, and probably for the first time ever, I actually want to go. I need to get out of bed and distract me from these nightmares I've been having the last few days. I swing myself out of bed with a zest that makes Mom's eyes widen in shock.

"You actually want to go to school?" she asks me, bemused. "Sure." I say, my voice muffled by the shirt I'm pulling over my head. I hear Mom mumble to herself, under her breath, "Good time to buy that lottery ticket then." I smile into my jumper. "I spoke with your father." Suddenly the jumper seems constricting, and I fight to get my head and arms through it. "He's still coming, isn't he?" I can't keep all the anxiety out of my voice. I haven't seen him for so long... "You're still on for the weekend."

I guess Mom and Dad are on my mind a lot at the moment. Or maybe I'm just trying to distract myself from these vivid, realistic dreams. Either way, I somehow find myself talking to Willow about them. She's always willing to lend a sympathetic ear. I mean, sure, she asks questions that I don't really want to speak about, but she doesn't make any judgements on my answers. I confess to her my fears that they broke up because of me, because I'm the Slayer and they'll never be able to understand. She doesn't say a word, for which I'm immensely grateful.

We head for class. As usual, Cordelia and Xander were sniping at each other, leaving a harmless Wendel (a big guy with pony tail. Quiet. No doubt the cause of the sniping.) wondering what's going on. Evidently, Cordelia had criticsized something he had done, and Xander had leapt to his defence, not out of any desire to help him, but merely because he doesn't like Cordelia.

When we sit down in our places, Willow says, quite out of the blue, "I think it's the hair. Probably weighs heavily on the brain." "What?" I ask her, bemused. She's been doing that a lot, lately, just saying things without any preamble. Something must be bothering her... and it's not really that hard to figure out what. She and Theo had been close, closer than he had been with anyone else, but since he'd been revealed to have some kind of super power and be rather less human than we'd expected, Willow had kind of drifted away from us. And Theo had vanished, again.

"Cordelia. She's so annoying because her hair constricts her brain." she replies, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Xander changes the subject, something he's also apt to do whenever Willow's in one of these moods. "Did we have any homework?" he asks. "Yeah, you remember. Active listening? Where we put on our big ears and listen?" I answer, whilst he still looks blank. "You tested it out with our teacher last lesson, remember? When she was wearing that tight sweater..." says Willow. I'm slightly surprised she feels she can tease him abouts such things, seeing as how she used to be head over heels in love with him. How times change.

"Ah, the midnight blue angora!" he says rapturously. "See, I was listening." Willow smiles and shakes her head, then freezes at something she sees over my shoulder. Only then did I realise that the door had opened and someone had come through. I didn't need to turn around to figure out who had come through the door, but I did anyway. I was right. Theo walked in, as graceful as a thief, face impassive and eyes half closed, but nevertheless still sparkling with the same ever present vivacity. He sits at a near-empty table at the back of the classroom, and it's sole occupant scurried away to join the nearest available table - Cordelia's. She didn't even remark on it, despite the fact the fleeing boy was outside her social circle. I could see why - Theo was scary now. Nothing overt, just as a faint hint of menace, as though at any moment he might snap. Which, if what he'd told us the last time we'd met had been true, might indeed be the case. Willow couldn't take her eyes off of him. Why must we always fall for the bad guys?

I jump slightly when I hear the door open again, and our teacher, Ms. Tishler, come in, causing me to accidentally knock my pen off the table, and bend down to pick it up. As I do so, a flash of white outside the room catches my eye, and I look up to see a young boy, no older than ten or eleven, standing in the doorway wearing some kind of white shift. As I look at him, I hear a faint rushing noise in my ears, as though something is being sucked away, something vital, something that should never happen. I could almost feel myself being drawn away, taken somewhere else...

Abruptly, I'm drawn back into the here and now by a make scream, echoed by several others throughout the class. I turn back and see Wendell, the boy Cordelia had been picking on, covered in spiders, shrieking for someone to get them of him, while not moving himself. Everyone else is in panic, vying to get as far away from him as they possibly can. Only I keep my head - when one dreams of being killed by vampires, and faces them every night, what fear can a bunch of spiders possibly hold? I scoop them off him and into an empty book-box, my skin crawling ffrom the sensation of so many hairy body's scuttling on me.

It was only afterwards, when everyone had calmed down, and the spiders had been taken to the insect house in the local zoo, that I realised that Theo had vanished in all of the confusion. I could feel something else, something I should remember, but for the life of me, I couldn't do it. But surely Theo couldn't have done it. Why would he?

So why did I feel so sure he had? And what had I forgotten


	35. Chapter 35

I round the corner on my way to see Giles, to talk to him about the spiders, and whether Theo's reappearance was coincidence or something else. Willow and Xander fall into step behind me, and start babbling. Well, Willow starts babbling, about the spiders. Xander seems rather calm. "Have you talked to Giles about the spiders yet?" she asks me anxiously, knowing full well I couldn't have. "Willow, You've really got a bee in your bonnet about these spiders, haven't you? You could've asked Giles yourself while Buffy was busy helping taking them away." replies Xander, the voice of reason. Talk about role reversal.

"I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, and their sticky webs, and what do they need all those legs for anyway? I'll tell you: for crawling across your face in the middle of the night. Ewww! How do they not ruffle you?" Willow humps into rant mode. She must really have a thing about spiders. "I'm sorry, but spiders... Nah. Nazi's crawling across my face, now that would scare me." jokes Xander, trying to take her out of herself. Maybe I'm reading too much of what's going on between those two.

We go to see our resident expert on all things weird, to see if he had any theories, when we find that someone had been to fill him in, and it hadn't been Willow or Xander. Sitting there, as cool as a cucumber (I never quite understood that phrase. Why not an ice cube? But I digress.), is Theo, talking to Giles as if he'd never left. He looks up and smiles brilliantly at us, the same grin that normally draws an answering smile from me not matter how I feel, but now just leaves me cold. Giles seems alright with it, though so everything should be alright. Unless Theo's brainwashed him. Oh god, why do I think these things?

"What are you doing back here?" I ask him bluntly. I don't trust him, even though Giles has given me all that spiel about him being on the side of the Light and a valuable ally against the Dark and all that jazz. After all, he's not human... I struggle to push memories of Angel and our kiss from my mind. He's not human either. He's not to be trusted. Neither of them are.

"Well, it's my job, isn't it? Help save all the humans from the things that go bump in the night..." he answers with an indulgent smile that sets my blood boiling. What is it about him that enrages me so? He's even stopped identifying himself as human, not a good sign. I decide to leave him be, just as he left us for the past few weeks. "Giles. You found anything about spiders popping out of books?" I ask, just a shade more harshly than was warranted, but then, maybe he was brainwashed. Giles gawped at me for a moment, surprised by the sudden change in topic, before saying "No, I haven't. I've got no ideas, that is. I haven't looked yet." he says, slightly flustered.

"Right." I say, being decisive. "I think we'd better pay a visit to Wendel. Giles, keep up to good work." I say, just a hint of scorn creeping into the last statement. Well, maybe more than just a hint. "You coming, guys?" I gesture to Willow and Xander, careful not to make Theo think he's invited along as well. Xander nods and turns for the door, but Willow wavers, unsure, her gaze flicking from Theo to Xander and back again. Neither of them make any movement to encourage her, but that doesn't mean that I can't. "Willow! Coming?" I say sharply. She jumps, before coming over to join Xander and I and head for the door. Theo gives me a look, not angry, just - empty. It sent shivers down my spine. Nevertheless, I force myself to smile at him in victory. He half rises from his seat, his face still empty of expression, but that air of meance is stronger about him than ever. Giles waves for him to sit down again, which he does, although his fists are clenched. I vaguely wonder why I dislike him so.

Throwing all thoughts of it from my mind, I head out with Willow and Xander, ready to help solve this new mystery. I hope it is a msytery and not just something mundane - I need something to distract me from the irrational worry that my dad might not show up later. And from my nightmares.

We head outside, expecting Wendel to be there, seeing as how it's break time. Sure enough, we find find him sitting by himself near a park bench - evidently no one wants to sit near Spider Boy. "Hey, Wendel! How're you doing" I ask, considerably more cheerfully than I felt. He looks up from the sndwich he'd been eating, swallows and says "Huh?" Not quite the profound answer I'd been looking for. Xander pats him on the back, and says "nice talking to ya, man." before turning to leave, but I grab him and pull him back. Wendel mutters "I don't know what to say to that." he obviously wants to be left alone - I doubt we'll be finding out anything from him. "There's nothing to say! I mean, 200-odd insects crawling all over you - who wouldn't freak out?"

"They're arachnids." says Wendel angrily. "They're from the middle east?" asks Xander, stupidly. Wendel snarls "Spiders are arachnids. They have 8 legs. Insects only have 6. Why does everyone always make that mistake?" Well, at least he seems to have emerged from his stupor. Taken aback by his vehemence, I slowly say "Don't know.". Then, just on an impulse, on the off chance that it actually leads somewhere, I ask "Has anything like this happened to you before?" To my great surprise, he nods, and opens his mouth to say something when a familiar voice from behind him says "Hope you've prepared for the history test, Buffy!" I look up to see Cordelia with a self-satisfied smirk on her face, as she knows full well that I haven't. I didn't even know we had a test, which I suppose is hardly surprising, given that I've almost never been to class. I tell the others to carry on without me - well, I tell Xander. Willow's busy staring off into the distance, at a point I'd bet leads straight to the library. Now, I could leave her be, and she'd probably wander right back to him, or I could keep her on target, and hopefully solve the mystery. no surprise, I decide on the latter.

I take her slightly aside, and whisper to her "You know that we have to solve this before anyone gets hurt, don't you? I need you on this one, Will." I brought out the big guns - I rarely use her pet name. She looks at me, blinking. Then nods slightly and goes to stand beside Xander. I heave a sigh of relief - I feel better now that it's not only Xander on the case. Now all I have to do is go fail that test.

Willow

I sit down opposite Wendel, struggling to focus on this case. It must be important, Buffy wouldn't have asked me to focus on it if it wasn't. Anyway, it's no good moping over spilt milk.

"When has it happened to you before?" I ask, showing that I had been listening. Xander gives me a grateful smile, which I ignore, becuase Wendel might be about to reveal something vital. "Lots of times." He murmurs, eyes downcast. He's certainly afraid of something... "Wow, you must hate spiders more than I do!" I say, trying to gently lead him to talk more about it. Then he looks up, his eyes full of passion. "I don't hate them. I love 'em. They hate me." Finally, without further ado, he launches into his story. "I had the best collection in the state. Browns, tarantulas, everything. Then, one summer, my parents shipped me off to camp. All my brother had to do was maintain their habitats, but instead he left on the heat-lamp for a week. when I came back, they were all dead. That's when the nightmares started."

Woo, creepy story! I struggle to supress the feeling that those little, hairy legs are crawling over me, and ask, as gently as I can (it is a personal question, after all), "Nightmares." he nods slightly, then swallows audibly. For a moment, I'm not sure he's going to answer - Xander even begins to turn away. Then, suddenly, words begin pouring out in a flood, as though he can't keep them in, or as though he has to speak quickly or he won't be able to at all. "It's always the same. The teacher calls on me for something, I open my textbook, and there they are, crawling all over me. It's terrible, but can you blame them, after what I did?" Xander, for the first time, begins to take an interest "But that just how it happened today." Barely had he time to finish before Wendel says "I know. I thought I'd dropped off again, but then everyone started screaming too."

Well, Buffy, I hope you're happy. Because it looks like we've solved our case, and it's not good. Our nightmares are becoming real.


	36. Chapter 36

Buffy

I realise that I don't know where my history class actually is, given that I've skipped it almost every time I've had it. I think I was there the first day... Possibly. I'm not really sure. Anyway, I stick close to Cordelia, because she looks like she knows where she's going.

Oh, she's on to me! She turns and holds the door open to a classroom, and says, rather too jovially for my tastes, "You don't know where the class is, do you?" I shake my head forlornly, and she chuckles. This must be what Xander feels like all the time. She gestures for me to get in, which I reluctantly do so.

I sit down at a free table (I assume it's mine, seeing as how no one is telling me to move), and look at the questions. Unsurprisingly, I realise that I don't know the answers to any of the questions. I look around, and see everyone else getting busily on with it. Oh well, at least this is America, and I get a mark for writing my name. I know that. I look up at the clock, knowing I've got a whole lesson in which to write my name. 11:35. 55 minutes to go. May as well take my time. I rummage leisurely for a pencil, look up at the clock again. 12:00. Surprised, I begin to write, only to have my pencil crack before I can even write the first letter. Suddenly, the bell goes - what? I've heard of time flying, but this is ridiculous. Oh well, there's nothing I can do. With a feeling of dread at what Mom will say when she sees the grade, I leave.

Just outside the door, a see a young boy, no older than ten or eleven, dressed in some kind of white shift, looking at a girl (What's her name? It's on the tip of my tongue... Laura, that's it.) with a mournful expression on his face. He seems so familiar... Laura descends into a cellar, and the boy mutters something I don't quite catch. I walk up to him to ask who he is, but then there's an ear-splitting shriek from the cellar, which is abruptly cut off, leaving a deafening silence. And the boy is gone.

Regrettably, I'm not the first person down there, and by the time I am, the place is a mess. But not as much as Laura. She's been beaten to a pulp, and she's lucky to be unconscious and not dead. But there's no chance of me finding something in here, I'll just have to speak to her at the hospital after she wakes up. Now, all I can do is go and find the others, fill them in on what just happened. And tell them about the boy, the one I mysteriously managed to forget earlier. Just who is he, and what's his relationship to all of this?

Anyway, I'm off to the library for another round of Giles-informing, which seems to be something I do regularly. Although, it must be said that he does his fair share of Buffy-informing as well - which, hopefully, is exactly what he's going to be doing right now.

I pause just outside the door because I can hear voices coming from inside - something that very rarely happens. Unfortunately, they're speaking too quietly for me to identify them, or hear what they're saying, so I have no choice but to go on in. After all, I'm the Slayer here, so I should have priority. I push open the doors and stride in.

"- and how am I meant to do that, if she doesn't trust me?" says Theo to Giles in a low voice. I should've known he'd be here - he obviously doesn't care about skipping classes. Well, it's nice that I was able to surprise him, he doesn't even seem to notice I'm here until Giles mkaes some kind of gesture and he looks up. For a split second, a bunch of emootions flicker across his face before he smoothes them away - I see frustration, annoyance, anger, and several others that are gone too fast to identify. Then he glides across the floor (Technically, he's walking, but it's so smoothly that it may as well be gliding.) towards me. I fight down the sudden rising panic, because I know I couldn't take him in a straight fight. But he moves right past me, as if I'm not even there.

For a fraction of a second, some light seems to puddle around his hands, which, with an odd twisting motion, he throws at the library doors, causing them to burst open with a resounding crash which makes both Giles and I wince. Before either of us can recover, he's gone. Again.

Xander

WIllow and I were just around the corner from the library when we hear a resounding crash. Of course, we speed up so that maybe we can get in the way of the villain before Buffy slays it. I don't have a high estimation of our usefulness to the physical side of Slaying. Now, moral and intellectual support, that's more our forte. But I digress.

It's not a demon we see fleeing the scene of the crime. Or maybe it is - I didn;t really understand Giles' explanation. But anyway, it's Theo, striding in the opposite direction to us.

For some reason, Willow turns to me, an unspoken question in her eyes. It's a shame I'm not much good at that sort of thing, but this one's fairly clear - "Can I go after him?". I don't know why she's asking me, to be honest. It's her own choice. But she's been wanting to speak to him all day, and Buffy's been stopping her. I guess she won't be happy until she does... Put like that, what choice do I have? I nod, and her eyes light up, she looks so happy. I wish she'd look like that more often. I sigh softly to myself as I watch her go after him.

Anyway, judging by the raised voices coming from the library, the last thing Buffy and Giles need right now is a Xander-appearance. Unfortunately, since Jesse died, I haven't got any friends outside our little Slayer circle. So it looks like I'm off to the common room, the guys there generally have a card game going, and they don't care who plays. I let my feet lead the way while my mind day-dreams.

When I arrive, I'm greeted by raucous laughs and incredulous looks in my direction. I turn behind me to see what could've caused this, but there's nothing but an empty corridor. Then I look down at myself, and instantly flush a deep red, then I run out of the room, with just a vague hope that there might be some clothes in the changing rooms. Because mine have dissapeared. This nightmare business is worse than I thought. But that doesn't really matter right now, the most important thing is to get dressed and far, far away from those mocking laughs.

Willow

I realise, as I chase after Theo, that I have no idea what I'm going to say to him. I don't even know if I'll catch up to him. But I have to try - the last time I saw him, he'd saved me from Moloch. I'd been asleep when he'd come to the library, and he hadn't even said goodbye. I quell that thought. My mind's such a jumble right now, none of my thoughts are making much sense. I just know I have to speak to him. To make sure he doesn't vanish again. Yes. That's why. No other reason. Just focus on that.

Suddenly, I find myself outside, with very little idea of how I came to be there. I'd just been walking aimlessly, I guess, hoping to find Theo, and I'd wandered out here. I turn to go back inside when I see a solitary figure standing in the middle of the green. Even though he's not facing me, I know he's waiting for me. The question is, do I have the courage to walk over there to him. It's been nearly three weeks since he'd vanished, and not a day had gone by since then that I hadn't wondered what I'd say to him, if he came back. But now, with him here, actually in my reach, I have no idea of what to say.

But since when has that mattered? I take those steps that will take me to his side. I'm there all too quickly. I have to say something - this silence is unbearable. I can't make myself look at him, so I focus on a blossoming cherry tree a little distance away, and ask the first question that comes to mind. "Why did you come back?". Instantly, I know it's the wrong choice - too accusatory by far. I don't want to come across as antagonistic, like Buffy - what's with her, anyway? Then all my thoughts are silenced when he begins to speak. Oh, how I've missed that voice. "Why did I come back? You know, I could've gone anywhere, anywhere in the world. And I wouldn't have fitted in anywhere. I'm unique. I tried isolation for a while - you don't know what it's like, to have all this power, available all around you, to have it just burst out of you - it's terrifying. But I got over that, eventually. Now I'm me again - more or less. So I came back. After all, I must be here for a reason."

I honestly don't know what he's talking about. I think he's rambling. But I don't care. "Thank you" I whisper softly, but knowing that he'll hear it. He turns to me, and my heart speeds up. I still don't look at him. "What for?" he asks quizzically. Then, at last, I look him in the face. His eyes are blazing silver, and I don't care. "For coming back." I say, in the same quiet whisper. His eyes slowly fade back to their normal dark brown, and they're briefly filled with a deep, physical pain, although he gives no other sign of it. Then he smiles, and it's like the sun coming up. He turns back to face the cherry tree, as do I. We stand there in companionable silence, because there's nothing more that needs to be said. It feels entirely natural for my hand to creep into his as we stand there.

_Author's note._

_I was going to write about how a nightmare version of Buffy's dad turns up and tells her that the divorce was all her fault and generally being cruel, but I found it too emotionally difficult. So, you'll just have to imagine it happened. It won't really be all that important to the story anyway. But, nevertheless, there will be a touching moment with Buffy and Giles in the next chapter._

_That's the rationale behind the title - each of the trio bares themselves in some way_


	37. Chapter 37

Buffy

I'm really hoping that the reason my Dad turned up and said... all that stuff (I can't even think about it!) was the same reason that Wendel was suddenly covered in spiders and and Laura got attacked by something. In Sunnydale these kind of things are possible. Speaking of which, there's nothing I can do to help anyone if I'm just sitting here moping, is there? Back to the library. I'm betting Giles won't notice my somewhat puffy, red eyes, and if he does, he'll be too English to mention it. He'll probably want to shout at me a bit more about trusting Theo. Well, I'm perfectly happy to let him do that.

It's back to the library for me. It's rather amusing that I spend more time there than in my classes. At least there's no one around right now, they're all in class. It's quiet. Free space. Good, I need it to recuperate. I don't even care that Theo and Willow are standing on the green holding hands. In fact, it's nice to see. Someone deserves to be happy. Nevertheless, I'm still glad they haven't seen me, I wouldn't want to ruin their moment.

By the time I'm back at the library, I'm feeling infinitely better. And I was right - although Giles did see my eyes, judging by the slight hesitation after greeting me, he doesn't say a word. Gods, but that's comforting. Not that I get the chance to be comfortable for very long. No, it's off to visit the hospitalized Laura for me. A Slayer's job is never done. Speaking of which, I need to tell Giles to drive us there. It's useful having and adult around, for transport. Wow, I feel like Willow so often acts - jumping from topic to topic. That meeting with hopefully-not-Dad really shook me up.

Anyway, we walk in companionable silence to his ancient, battered car, and I realise how much I take Giles for granted. I always rely on him to know what's going on, and not once do I consider how much work he puts into being a Watcher, and how I'm so reluctant to have anything to do with being a Slayer. I don't tell him any of this, of course - even if I'd wanted to, I'd have no idea of what to say. I'll just have to try to be a little more considerate in future. If I remember to be.

Suddenly, we're at the hospital. I must have been so involved in my thoughts that I didn't even notice the journey. Or maybe time's speeding up, like it had in that history exam. Something weird is definitely going on here - speaking of which, I need to speak to Willow or Xander about what they found out from Wendel. Probably Xander, 'cause I'm guessing Willow might be a little occupied right now. Anyway, it's not as if I can do anything right now, because my cell died this morning. Talk about bad luck. We ask the receptionist to take us to Laura (one of the advantages of living in a small town is we don't need to give her last name. Which is good, because I don't know it.) but instead she directs us to her doctor.

This doctor, in a strangely calm voice (I suppose, in a place like Sunnydale, you'd end up seeing a lot of injuries. I just hope I don't end up being so blasé about it. I also hope he doesn't end up seeing lots of my injuries.) tells us about her injuries: "Broken ribs, fractured arm, and she'll need some stitching around her eyes. She's still unconscious, but we think she should wake up. All in all, she got off pretty lucky." "Lucky?" breaks in Giles, before I have a chance to, "Are you aware of the definition of lucky? Because this certainly isn't it." The doctor looks at him with raised eyebrows, a little surprised by his vehemence. I smile to myself at this response. With a negligent gesture (I really hope I don't end up like this guy! He's so cold!) at another ward in the same corridor, showing a little boy with an extremely beaten face, he says "The first one still hasn't woken up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do." and strides off without further ado. The boy looks familiar. I try to imagine him with out the bruises or the stitches - and gasp as the realization hits me. Giles looks at me in alarm (well, his eyes widened. He's too English to do much else.) and I say "That boy, I've seen him before, twice! Just before the spiders, and again before Laura was attacked. Then, when I looked back for him, he was gone!"

Giles looked at me incredulously, obviously wondering if I'd suddenly gone insane. Then his face lights up with realization, and he asks me, urgently "Buffy, I'm going to ask you a personal question. You don't have to tell me what happened, but I need you to answer this question. When your dad took you out of the library, the things he said to you: were they things you'd often feared he'd say?" I nod slowly, because I couldn't speak. I feel as though my throat had closed up, and I was having difficulty breathing. Giles didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. I could tell that he understood, that he wanted nothing more than to be able to comfort me, but that he didn't know how to. I raised my arms, clearly inviting a hug. I felt so fragile then, I really needed a shoulder to cry on. Which is exactly what I did, after he enveloped me. I cried myself empty, and I felt at home.

Eventually, after aeons, we disengaged and headed for the exit, me feeling possibly the best I've felt since coming to Sunnydale (bar Angel's kiss, but I try not to think about that.) Giles says nothing more than he's got a theory, but nothing about what it is, only that he needs to research it. Nevertheless, it might be the only lead we have. To the library!

Willow

The bell rings, our time is up. I'm not ready to be seen by the whole school holding hands. I doubt that I ever will be. I drop Theo's hand (is it my imagination, or does he look disappointed?) then say "I should really go and tell Giles what we learnt from Wendel." Theo pauses for a moment, before saying "Must you? Surely Xander's already been and told them."

Interesting. So he knew that I was there with Xander, before I went after him. I should've known that I couldn't have caught him if he hadn't wanted me to do so. Nevertheless, I still think we should tell Giles, and I tell him so. With a sigh, he aquiesces, and we head for the dark and claustrophobic interior of the school. (Yeah, I'm guess I'm reluctant to give up this perfect moment as well. But any second now, the mob'll arrive. Not the gangsters, the school-children. Although there doesn't seem to be much of a difference...) These absurd ideas occupy me for the entirety of our journey to the library. Theo, walking somewhat quicker than I do (how does he move his feet that fast?) gets there first, and holds the door open from the inside. I'm still half way down the corridor, when two men, dressed in expensive tuxedos, grab me by either arm and lead me away. One of them says "Ms. Rosenberg, where have you been? The performance starts in a few minutes, there's barely time for your make-up!" he sounds faintly Italian (maybe it really is the mob!) and I have no idea what's going on. I want to call for Theo, but suddenly my throat dries up as I realise something.

He'd said "performance". Nightmares are coming true. Now, I'm going to have to perform in front of everyone, and it'll be a disaster. I can't do it. I try to escape, to say that it's some kind of mistake, but these men's arms are like iron, they don't listen to a word I say. I want to call out "Somebody please help me!" but my voice simply won't work. I can only hope that someone will, otherwise I'll be horribly embarassed and my world will end.

I'm dragged up to a stage (mercifully behind a curtain... But how long until that curtain is lifted?) snd rapidly put into a kimono and covered with some kind of pasty white make up. Then one of them gives the call for the curtain to lift... which it doesn't. "Stop!" calls a familiar voice "You've got the wrong person!" It's Xander, running up to me, he grabs me by the arm, saying all the while how everyone made a mistake, I'm not the right person, they should let me go. But as the men in tuxedos move to pull us apart, even he gradually dries up. They're huge.

Yet, strangely, I get angry. I'm not going to stand for this. "Why don't you just leave me alone?" I shriek at them. They all jump, even Xander. Then I stride off, retaining my dignity, aware all the while of Xander gaping at me, mouth open, jogging to stay at my side. I feel... amazing. Freer. Wonderful. Then there's an odd shimmer in the air, and my clothes turn back to normal. I raise my hand to my face, and the make-up's gone too. I turn back, and the stage and the tuxedo guys are all gone too. Like it had all been a dream. Suddenly I feel dizzy. Had I really just done that?

Another familar voice calls out "Well done!". I look around for the source of this voice, then see Theo sitting on the floor, back braced against the floor, face taut with pain, eyes bright and feverish. "What's wrong with you?" I blurt out, before I can think to phrase it any more politely. "I couldn't let that curtain go up now, could I? So I stopped it. Now, every fibre of my body is filled with a fiery agony." He says cheerfully, clearly trying not to alarm us. It isn't very sucsessful.

Xander grabs my arm and says urgently "Willow, we need to find Buffy now, and stop whatever's going on here!" I look at him, curious at the sudden panic. "Why all the urgency? And where have all your normal clothes gone?" I say, noticing he's wearing a spare P.E uniform. He blushes, and only answers the first part "So far, all the dreams have been harmless, more or less. But it only takes one person to have a nightmare about a bombing, or about some kind of monster coming loose - if we don't stop it, people are going to die." He's right, I realise. We'd just been lucky that no one had died thus far. "Where do you suggest we start?" Before I'd even fully finished, he starts saying "Have you looked outside?" he pulls me over to a window. Across the street is a cemetery. At night. There's normally no cemetery there, and it's the middle of the day. Buffy's got to be there.

"You go on ahead." says Theo, still from his position on the floor. "Once I've recovered, I'll catch up to you." I nod, and Xander leads the way. We've got to save Sunnydale. Again.

Theo

They're gone at last, and I can drop façade. Not that it had helped much - they'd both seen through it - but it's better than them seeing me screaming in pain. Which I won't do. I've got it under control now. My head sinks to my chest and my eyes close as I concentrate on holding back the pain.

What use is it to have all this power if I can't use it without feeling as though I'm going to die? All I'd done was burnt through a rope. From about thirty feet away... Which took up a lot of energy. opeing the library doors earlier had only given me pins and needle (pretty bad ones) for a second. So, the more energy I use, the worse I feel. Makes sense.

Someone's there. I can hear them breathing. Why hadn't I heard their footsteps? I look up see a beautiful woman - black hair, green eyes, pale. She looks unbearably familar. I feel certain I know her, feel sure that I'd seen her before. The pain was suddenly gone, although I felt that it shouldn't have been. It had something to do with her... As soon as i think of getting up, I am. It's always struck as odd that everyone else can't do that.

"Who are you?" I ask, moving towards her. She doesn't answer, merely smiles enigmatically. I stop, very close to her. She doesn't seem to mind. "Who are you? Why do you seem so familar?"

She puts her finger on my lips, silencing me, and my mind blew away like dandelion seeds in the wind.

Willow

Is it just me, or are these corridors becoming more and more labyrinthine? I'm sure it didn't use to take this long to get outside. Or maybe it did. Or maybe it's another nightmare. Or maybe I'm just stressed, therefore it seems to be taking much longer than it normally would.

Suddenly, Xander stops and stoops down, picking up a a chocolate bar, which he puts into his pocket. He moves on, into a side corridor. Now, I know that that is the wrong way. I call for him to stop, but he doesn't. Every few steps he just stops, picks up another chocolate bar, pockets it, and moves on. Come to think of it, I'd never seen this corridor here before... it must be another nightmare. Xander's nightmare.

I grab his arm, trying to pull him away, to get back to our mission, but he slips away easily, waltzing around me before continuing. It's like he's in a trance, or hypnotized by the magnetism of chocolate. Either way, I knew that this wasn't going to end until he'd come to the nightmarish part. Which could be at any time.

Speaking of which, we reach the end of the corridor (Well, not exactly the end. There was a sheet of plastic at the end, as though it was still in construction.) Xander, upon seeing the final chocolate bar, drops the armful he had been carrying (he'd long since run out of pocket space), and picks it up, saying "A tornado bar! I love these! I haven't seen one of these since... My sixth birthday!" panic had begun to creep into his voice by the end of the sentence, although I had no idea why.

Suddenly, something tears it's way through the plastic wall, and Xander lets out an unmanly squeal and runs away, chocolate bars streaming out from his bulging pockets. Slowly, a clown, laughing manically, slices its way through the wall, and skips rapidly towards me, brandishing a knife. Taking Xander's lead, I turn and run away. This is no dream of humiliation, this is proper nightmare. Someone might actually die. As I run frantically away from the giggling menace, I hope that it isn't me.

Theo

I return to my body when I hear frantic footsteps pounding there way towards me. Hmm, what had just happened? Who had that woman been? No matter - she was gone now. But these people running towards me weren't.

It was Xander and Willow, returning from there trip (Had I really been out that long?) with something chasing them. A clown? This nightmare business is rather odd. I'm glad I don't dream.

As I think that, I realise something. I knew these were dream creatures. Because I knew they were dreams, I had some influence over them, like a lucid dream. They couldn't hurt me, because I knew they weren't real. So, as Xander and Willow went flying past me, I walked by and stood, perfectly calmly, in front of the knife-wielding lunatic clown. I had to test out this theory.

As the clown came bouncing towards me, knife slashing the air, I felt something cannon into me side, pushing me out of the way of the knife. Willow had pushed me out of the way. But she'd thought the flown and his knife had been real.

The knife had been real for her. It had caught her between the neck and her shoulder. Willow was dying


	38. Chapter 38

Xander

The clown stabbed Willow. That's not right, it's _my _dream, if anyone's going to get hurt, it should be _me_. I hadn't even noticed she'd gone back, I'd been so focused on getting away, I was overrun by an unreasoning panic (well, perhaps not so unreasoning, given that it had just stabbed Willow).

I would've kept running away had it not been for this sudden sense of wrongness. I knew - I felt - that something bad had happened, but it hadn't been until I looked back that I realised exactly how wrong everything had gone.

Thankfully, she seemed to be unconscious. Gods, let her only be unconscious. Then, I noticed the clown, still looming behind Theo and Willow's prone body. Theo didn't even seem to notice it, he was just kneeling beside her body, talking to her, although I was too far away to hear what was said.

But I couldn't just leave them, not when in any second Theo might get stabbed, and then they'd both - go to hospital. Yes, just that. Not anything else. With nightmares popping up allover the place, it's probably not a good idea to think of anything else. Not that that will happen.

Anyway, I couldn't leave them, so I ran back (panting heavily. I should really work out more.) just in time to see the clown raising it's bloody knife igh in the air, still laughing madly, ready to plunge it into Theo's back. So I hit him in the face (the clown, not Theo) and it fell backwards, landing heavily on the floor. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief, and the clown just faded away, as though it had never existed.

If only that were true. But no, the wound was still there, she was still dying. I couldn't keep that thought at bay any longer, not when I was this close to her, not while I could smell the metallic tang of her blood. I didn't know what to do, so I just knelt beside her and held her hand.

I could hear what Theo was saying now, not that it made any sense to me. "I know that this is a dream, and as I know that this is a dream, I have control over this dream. Damn it, Willow, why did you have to push me out of the way? I'd have been fine. The knife was only real to you." Then he looked up sharply, peering over my shoulder at something only he could see. His eyes began to blaze silver. "Xander. This is important. You must not touch me until this is all over." he said. Or I guess it was him, his voice had done that creepy thing where it sounds like countless people are speaking at the same time. I nod in agreement, even though I haven't the faintest idea what he's on about. If it saves Willow, I don't care.

Suddenly, we were outside. There hadn't been any sense of motion - one moment, we'd been inside, the next, we weren't. Just like a dream... I noticed the rapidly gathering storm clouds appearing overhead. They certainly seemed ominous to say the least. Soon, the entire sky was a mass of roiling grey clouds, blocking out the sun entirely. Theo placed his hands on either side of Willow's head in a movement that was far too quick to follow.

Lighntning struck him in the back, and he began to glow, so brightly that it was almost impossible to look at him. But I had to. I needed to see what he was doing. I needed to see if he could save Willow.

Some of the incandescent light flowed steadily into Willow's head, which seemed odd to me, as the wound was in her neck. Even as I though this, my eyes were drawn downwars towards the wound. I'd managed to avoid seeing it before. And now it wasn't there.

That's not to say that it had healed. It wasn't like in the movies, where someone heals so fast that the wound just seals up and vanishes. It looked like a shimmering pool of water, exactly where the puncture should've been.

The light began to dim, and the shimmering began to fade away. The wound was still there, but smaller. Much smaller, hopefully no longer life threatening. I turned to Theo, to congratulate him, when the lightning struck him again. I guess lightning does strike the same place twice. I also guess that a half-healed injury isn't good enough for him. The process began again - the light flowing from him into her head, and the wound seemingly becoming liquid.

Then, once again, it was over. This time, though, it was gone. Her neck was smooth, unblemished. Now it truly was as though the clown had never existed. Theo collapsed backwards, his now-normal brown eyes staring blindly at the sky. I reach over to shake him, to see if he's alright, but then I remember his warning, and my hand jerks away.

Willow sits up, her hand flying to her neck, eyes wide with shock, breathing heavily. I'd say she never expected to do that again. Then she saw Theo lying there, utterly still, eyes open and unblinking. Before I can say a word, she's reached over and taken his hand.

The energy that only moments before had been flowing from him to her now reversed itself. She froze, becoming just as unmoving as the person she'd touched, as light coursed through her, down into the motionless figure on the ground.

Who blinked. The flow of energy stopped and Willow drew her hand away, although she didn't draw away from him.

It took a moment befoe he saw her, and when he did he smiled weakly, and slowly reached up to put a hand on her cheek. she didn't draw away, although her eyes did shine with unshed tears. I suddenly had the feeling that I was intruding on an intensely private moment, and I quickly looked away. I could still hear him though, saying in pain-filled voice "Don't be afraid, love. I'll be fine. just give me a moment" I felt my teeth clench at the endearment, and turn back to say something, do something, to interrupt this moment. No one talks to my Willow that way! But he'd passed out.

I felt a hand clamp on my shoulder, and I turned to see a vampire looking at me calmly. She seemed eerily familiar... then I realised that there was a vampire, and I turned to Willow, wrenching myself clear of the strangely weak vampiric grip, ready to tell her to run. The words died in my throat when I saw Giles kneeling beside her, checking Theo for a pulse. He looked up at me and smiled, untterly unfazed by the vampire at my shoulder. "He's alive." He said, calmly.

I looked back at the vampire, and suddenly realised why she seemed so familiar.

It was Buffy.

"Come on." she said, her voice unchanged. "We've got to get to the hospital and wake up Billy." She walks away before I can demand an explanation.


	39. Chapter 39

I watched as Buffy - vampire Buffy - walked away unconcerned by the fact that she was no longer human, and Giles pick up Theo and put him into a fireman's lift, or whatever one of those holds are called. It's something like that, anyway. I noticed a patch of frost where he'd been lying. Setting a quick pace, Giles heads after Buffy, calling over his shoulder that he'll explain on the way to the hospital. Willow hovers around Theo, often reaching out as though about to touch him, then drawing back. She seems rather out of it, but I suppose that's only to be expected after nearly being killed by a clown. She certainly doesn't seem to care that Buffy's a vampire, but then again, it's possible that she didn't notice.

However, I do care, and I walk quickly to catch up with the rapidly moving Giles. "So" I begin, feigning a casual air "How come Buffy's a vampire, and why do you seem so cool with it?" Giles, his voice slightly strained from the motionless body he's carrying (Giles is certainly stronger than he looks. But then again, I guess it's no good having an unfit Watcher.) "It's rather a short story. There was a school girl who got hospitalized, and we went to check on her. Once there, I came to the realization that nightmares were crossing over from whatever hellish plane of existence they normally are found on, and we drove back to the library to find out how. Buffy thought it had something to do with a boy in a coma, who she'd seen before... Then, whilst we were discussing it, she vanished. Into a graveyard. I found her there, and she's still herself - more or less."

I pause a moment to digest this information. Then I noticed that he'd tagged on a "more or less" onto the end of his rather badly told take, and so of course I ask him what he means by that. I try to keep the apprehension out of my voice as Buffy swerves towards us from her leading position, only to swerve away again when she came within a few feet of us. I realised she's done that several times already, and I wondered if she even knew she was doing it. But more importantly, I wondered why she was doing it.

Giles, who had kept his eyes on her the entire time he'd been talking to me, lowered his voice and said "I think she's got the bloodlust under control." Even though he'd tried to keep it quiet, it was obvious from the way her back stiffened and the way she went even further ahead of us that she'd heard us. I suppose that's a benefit of vampiric hearing. Evidently, she doesn't trust herself to be near us. I shudder as I realise that she'd come close enough to touch me.

I shudder, feeling cold. Or perhaps it wasn't quite the cold. I quickly tell Giles what had happened with us, but, just as I neared the end of my tale, a voice suddenly said "You can stop carrying me now." Of course, it was Theo. Giles gently set him down, and Theo stretched to a chorus of pops and crackles. It seems being struck by lightning really takes it out of a guy.

He's almost knocked from his feet again when Willow crashes into him, wrapping him in an enormous hug. Not that he seems to mind - in fact, he's hugging her back every bit as ferociously. But Willow jumps back from him, probably realizing that they've got company, if the blush setting her face alight is any indication. She mumbles "You're cold!" It seems like a rather odd thing to say, to me, but it seems she's right, if the frost spiderwebbing from where he's standing is any judge. No wonder I felt cold.

I turned to Giles, fully expecting some kind of explanation, but he's blue with cold, his teeth are chattering, his glasses are frosted over, and his clothes are covered in a thin layer of frost. How had I not noticed that before? And how had he managed to get all this way, walking at such a punishing pace, and carrying someone else? I guess he really is a lot stronger than he looks. He looks like he could pass out at any moment.

"Oh, sorry about that. I did ask you not to touch me 'till it was all over." The frost just fades away, melted by the summery Californian air. In moments, the colour's returned to Giles's face, and he stops shivering. Theo, on the other hand, really doesn't look so good. He's pale, and the only thing that seems to be keeping him up is the wall he's leaning against, that and sheer will power. He hasn't looked like that since he teleported us halfway across Sunnydale.

Buffy, who'd come back when she'd noticed we were no longer following, calls over from a few feet away, wondering why we'd stopped. Theo looks over at her ready to answer, then cocks his head to one side as he notices her vamp face. He takes it better than I had - he doesn't even raise an eyebrow. "Well isn't that odd." he murmurs, almost inaubibly.

Abruptly, he's in front of her, hands clamped to her shoulders, silver eyes boring into her head. I really wish he would just move like a normal person, all these movements that are to quick to follow are really disconcerting. Once again, patterns of frost begin to spiral out from where he touched her.

"Buffy. You are not a vampire. The bloodlust that you feel, that is being imposed upon you. It is not a part of you. This face you have now, it is not your face. You know this. Find the place within yourself tha is you, wholly and utterly you. Wrap yourself in that. You cannot be what you are not."

Sure sounds like a heap of mystical drivel to me, but seems to work for her, because the vamp face is slowly fading away. Then she sags, and somehow I can tell she's Buffy again. She's a vampire no longer.

Unfortunately, we don't have any time to celebrate, because a monstrous, deformed creature had appeared out of nowhere (literally, out of nowhere) behind here, and clubbed Buffy to the ground with one colossal arm.

Before any of us even has a chance to move towards her defense, Theo has a knife in his hand which lances for the creatures throat with the speed of a striking snake


	40. Chapter 40

The knife stopped instantly, as soon as it came into contact with the throat of the weird monster-thing. The reflexes it must take to do that! Now if I only I knew why he hadn't just stabbed it, after all that is what we do to evil creatures of the night, be they vampires or not.

But, judging by the confused expression on his face, and the way he rapidly tries again several times, whilst the monster just stands there, grinning at him, it seems that Theo certainly meant to stab him. "Bugger" says Theo softly, as the monster raises its arm (which looks suspiciously like a plank of wood) and knocks him flying, where he hits a sapling with a resounding crack. Willow goes rushing over to him to check if he's alright. Unfortunately, now the only two people who might actually be able to stop this thing are currently lying sprawled on the ground.

Except that it seems as though one of them was faking it, as Buffy rises up behind it, grabs the misshapen thing that passes for its head with both hands and twists sharply. The creature falls to the ground with a muted thud, but unlike the clown or Willow's nightmarish stage, it doesn't just fade away. I wonder whose dream it was, 'cause it certainly wasn't mine. In fact, I doubt that it was any of ours. Then again, this is Sunnydale. Perhaps it was just a demon.

Theo gets up gingerly, looking sadly at the sapling which had broken his fall, and was now hanging together only by a thin strip of bark. That was probably the loud crack we'd heard. Then Theo looks wryly at Giles, and says "Are you still keeping notes on me?" Giles nods as he rummages in a pocket for his notebook, ever ready to add to his store of knowledge. "Then you might want to add that I can't kill things."

"I'm sure you have, though." says Buffy, looking at him thoughtfully. I have to agree, having seen Moloch fall all to pieces when he touched it certainly seems like killing to me, at least. Buffy voices this, once again proving how we're always in tune and should really get on and start dating. I smile sadly to myself and shake my head as I delude myself. Theo also shakes his head briefly, although he quickly stops and winces briefly in pain. "No, Moloch's still alive. It's rather less substantial than a ghost, but still alive. Although the only way anyone will ever see it again if some mightly powerful mage summons it into a new host." All this talk of mages and summoning sounds a little too fantastical, even for someone who is fully aware of the existence of vampires and has a dead monster lying at my feet.

Buffy looks as though she's going to say more, but then decides against it, as she shrugs and declares "Fair enough. Let's move on, we've got a town to save." It looks as though we're back in business. If only we got paid.

The good thing about living on a small town is that everything is nearby. The good thing about living on a Hellmouth is that there's rather more hospitals than one might normally find in a small town, meaning that there's even more chance that there'll be one nearby. This being the case, it's hardly surprising that it takes us only a few minutes to reach the hospital. Now that we're here, it might be a good idea if we actually came up with a plan, 'cause even I know that you don't wake someone from a coma by merely shaking them. But I suppose Theo can always do that healing thing, or failing that Giles can probably do a spell.

All these thoughts instantly vanish from my head when we go in through the front doors, because it's pitch black. Literally, I cannot see my hand in front of my face. I try to go to the door, to open it again and get some light in here, because the darkness and the eerie silence are starting to bug me, and I'm not even scared of the dark.

I can't find the door. "Guys?" I call out tentatively, in the hope my cry doesn't attract something else. But there's no answer. Looks like I'll just have to wait until whoever it is who's frightened by darkness to get over it, or else we're going to be stuck here for a very long time. I sit down and close my eyes, and settle down for what could be a long while. As I said before, it's a good thing I'm not scared of the dark. Much.

Willow

The darkness seemed almost tangible, as though I could reach out and touch it. I felt as though it was bearing down on me from all sides, trying to force me to be afraid, to curl up and give in the fear. I knew that it wasn't my fear, but it was nearly overwhelming all the same.

Until I felt an answering pressure inside me, slowly building as something tried to get out. It seemed familiar somehow, although I'm sure that I'd never felt it before. But I don't dwell on that thought for long, as all thoughts are driven from my head by the sensation of rising pressure. I feel as though at any moment something is going to break out, but I simply cannot make myself care, because it feels so damn good.

Then something shifts, as though interminable pressure has found some escape, no matter how small. And there was light.

Not the overhead flourescent lights that one normally finds in a hospital, nor the light of torches, but a faint yet steadily building glow that seems to be present in the very air. It creates an odd, depthless portrayal of the hospital lobby, as all the shadows vanish. Did I do that?

"Well now, isn't that interesting" says Theo from behind me. I turn to see him looking, not at the slowly revealing hospital lobby, but at me, head slightly cocked to one side in a thoughtful manner. He seems unaware of anything else, and I can feel a flush building in my cheeks. No one ever looks at me that way.

A faint cough interrupts our moment, as Giles fastidiously cleans his glasses. "Do you think we might get on now?" he asks gently. I reluctantly nod in affirmation, and I hear both Xander and Theo agree. But I don't hear Buffy. I look around to see where she was, but she'd gone.

Buffy

It was odd, when I entered the hospital, it had been utterly dark, but almost as soon as I had registered that, a little boy dressed in white had appeared in the distance, walking slowly away from me. He seemed to glow faintly, lighting up the path towards him. Billy. I rushed to catch up, hoping that I could convince his - oh what was it? Asteroid body? Astro body? Astral body, that was it. - to return to his physical body. Giles had said that only then could the situation be resolved.

But no matter how fast I ran to catch him up he always seemed to be exactly the same distance away, even though he was only walking. That is, until he made a sudden swerve through a ward door (the door was closed, he walked through it), and I, panting, threw it open and looked at the battered body of a young boy, who otherwise could have been the identical twin of the boy looking sadly down on him.

"Billy" I say, gently, not wishing to startle him. The two previous times I'd seen him had swiftly been followed by the appearance of someone's nightmare, and I'd really like this to be the exception. He looks at me, and there's some kind of haunted expression in his eyes. He'd seen far more than anyone his age should - hell, he'd seen more than anyone should, given that he'd been trapped in a nightmare dimension.

"Can't you see it? Every time I try to get back, they block the way. There's no way through" he says, once again looking down on his body. This time, though, he reaches forward as though to touch it, but at a certain point his hand meets some kind of resistance. It's probably that that's stopping him from waking up.

I don't bother to try and touch him, it's clear that the barrier is physcological rather than physical, there's obviously no point in me trying to breach it. "What do you see, Billy?" I ask in the same gentle tone, still not wanting to agitate him. "There's a cage of baseball bats. He put them there, to punish me for losing. I should never have dropped the ball." he says, hanging his head in shame. I was going to ask who, but perhaps he sensed the question, because he continued without my prompting.

"My coach. We were playing the last game of the season, and if we'd won, we'd have been top of the league. But we lost because I fumbled a catch. He was so angry at his lucky nineteen, and now I can't get back." Lucky nineteen? Isn't that what the that had attacked Laura had said to her? Well, it's no surprise that Biily's terrified of it, and that fear is stopping him from returning to his body.

Well, being a Slayer isn't just about slaying, sometimes I've got to help those who can't help themselves as well. "Billy, i isn't your coach that's stopping you going back into your body. Sure, it's obvious that he beat you up pretty badly, and scared you too. But he doesn't have that kind of power." Billy looks at me, clearly confused, not following where I'm going with this. "It's you. You're stopping yourself. The coach scared you so badly that you won't allow yourself to go back into your body, for fear of what you'll find there." Still the same confused face peering up at mine. I sigh, thinking that I should really stick to the slaying part of being a Slayer.

Then again, maybe not, because Billy's face seems to light up with comprehension (he was already glowing slightly, maybe he really did light up?) and he puts one of his ghostly hands on his physical head, and vanishes. I didn't expect that little talk to work, but, i though as I watched the hospital lights come back on, I guess it did. Maybe I'm better at that kind of stuff than I thought.

End of book 8

_I'm not going to be re-writting the next episode in the series, the one with the invisible girl, although I might re-write a small part of it, if anyone wants me to do so. Therefore, there will only be a few more chapters before the end of this volume, which hopefully you have all enjoyed. I will be re-writing series two, but that will be in a different volume (Obviously)._

_However, given that I won't be rewriting invisible girl, and seeing as how I forgot to do it in this book, means that I haven't introduced the prophecy in which Buffy is predicted to die. Therefore, it's necessary to do so here. Giles mentioned a specific tome of prophecies, and mourned the fact that it was lost. Angel, overhearing, said it wasn't, and brought it to him. Giles is now attempting to translate it._

_Once again, I thank everyone who has stuck with this story this far, and feel free to comment if any aspect is unclear, as I suspect somethings probably are._

_Other than that, "Let us not say goodbye, but rather au'revoir!"_


	41. Chapter 41

Have you ever noticed that adults send mixed messages? Sometimes they say, for example, 'Yes, get a hobby, it will be good for you!' and other times they will say...

"Buffy, are you mad? Lives depend on you, you are the Slayer, and you deem it wise to enslave yourself to this-this Cult?" rants Giles.

Is it any wonder that teenagers so often end up doing their own thing?

Feeling somewhat put out that my watcher had put such a damper on what would have been a nice day for me, I decide to rile him slightly. After all, he generally gets his own way, what with him being the person who always knows how to stop the upcoming apocalypse from destroying the world, so sometimes I can be forgiven for doing something my own way once in a while.

"So, you dont like cheerleading, huh?" I reply, somewhat flippantly.

Giles leans against a table, preparing himself for an argument that he knows full well he won't win. "Buffy, if you could vanquish demons, slay vampires and save the world by waving pompoms at people, believe me, I would be the first to suggest it. As it is, cheerleading will take valuable time from your slaying and your training." responds Giles.

"Speaking of training, Theo gets out of hospital today. You remember him, that mysterious person who no one seems to know who he is, and managed to thrash us both at the same time, in about thirty seconds? I'm sure with him around, my training will certainly pick up the pace with him teaching me. No offense" I add, not wanting to hurt Giles feelings.

Glaring at me in annoyance, Giles' face suddenly changes to resignation. It would seeem that he has given up on this particular battle, but I have no doubt that there will be others, between responsibility and having a little fun.

"Fine, run along. Go wave pompoms."

Willow

I was waiting for Buffy outside the gym, with Xander, when I bumped into my old friend Amy. I hadn't really seen her for a few years: her mother had basically been keeping her under lock and key. "Hi, Amy!" I call, waving to her. She looks around, then when she sees me and my frantic hand-waving walks over to us. "Following in your mom's footsteps, I see", noting her cheerleader garb. Her mom had been a cheerleader as well, and a good one. Not that I know the difference between good and bad. A strange look, almost like hatred, flashes across her face, almost too quickly to see. Just as quickly, it is gone, and I am left wondering if i had imagined it. I often do imagine things, like that time i imagined Xander and I on the beach, and he was... Then I was snapped out of my reverie by the appearance of a small blond head weaving it's way through the crowd. I wonder if all vampire slayers are small? I mean, for someone destined to fight vampires and the forces of darkness, she's really short and not at all muscly. Not that muscles are everything: sometimes a nice sense of humour and a kind smile do just as well.

When Buffy finally negotiates her way through the crowd, with only minimum cries of 'Ow, watch your elbows!' we make our way into the gym, minus Amy, who had suddenly disappeared.

Almost as soon as Xander pushes open the doors, I see him get sidetracked by some girl doing the splits, and his eyes nearly fall from his head. I wish that he would look at me like that, I thought, despairing of it ever happening. Seeking to distract myself, I turn to Buffy, and ask her how Giles took her decision.

"Need you ask? He went all English on me, telling me it will affect my training. Anyway, I've got a mysterious golem-killer to help deal with that." I nod sympathetically, then scowl as Cordelia strolls up to us, in her cheerleading outfit, looking as if she rules the world. Just because she is rich, and popular, and beautiful, and could get any boy she wanted... "Have you seen Amber?" Cordelia butts in, as usual not caring about our conversations. She gestures at splits-girl. "She thinks she's so, so, superior!' Xander looks at her witheringly, and retorts 'Yeah, and no one else does, do they, Cordelia?". She stares at him, almost incredulous that anyone would dare say anything like that to her. I can't imagine shes hears things like that often, surrounded as she is by sheep. I feel a rush of warmth to Xander. It's nice that, even though he looks at all the other girls, he doesn't look at her that way.

Just then, the gym doors swung open, and in enters Theo, all dressed in green: light green shirt, dark green jacket and lovely ocean green trousers. Having only seen him for a few minutes before he became burnt when he fought the golem, I was taken aback by his good looks, which were, of course, nothing compared to Xander's, or, for that matter, Angel's. I think what made him so striking was the way his eyes seemed to have a gleam of mischief in them, as though he was planning a great joke, and also the way he moved: each step fluid, continuing unbroken from the preceding one.

Cordelia, oppurtunistic as always, walks over to greet him. "Hey, you're Theo, right? The new guy from England?" Without even waiting for him to nod, she continues "I was wondering, seeing as how you're new here, and you probably don't know anyone, if you might want to come to this nightclub, the Bronze, tonight? Some friends of mine, and, of course, me, will be there, and it will be a great chance for you to meet the popular people. I'll even dance with you a couple of times". Dear Yahweh, I thought, look at her throwing herself at him! Theo looked at her, pure horror on his expressive face "Dance? You mean, with music, and people, and, and you? No!" He answers, in an Irish accent, which I'm sure he didn't have before. He quickly makes his escape towards us before Cordelia has the chance of getting over her shock that someone turned her down.

He quickly reaches us "Phew! That girl sure thinks a lot of herself, doesn't she? I mean, why would I want to dance with someone I've known for less than a minute?" He says, still with an Irish accent. … "Top o' the morning to ya" says Xander, in such an appalling attempt to copy his accent that he sounds almost Australian. Buffy asks him "What's with the being Irish, and the all the green?" He shrugs, answering "Hey, I dont know who I am, so I may as well be Irish and dress in green. I don't see anyone else doing it, so why shouldn't I?". Sometimes I feel like that, doing something that no on else would do, but then I realize that everyone would laugh at me for being odd. Well, they do that already, but they'd probably do it even more. I guess when you don't remember anything about who you are and you don't even know whether you're human or not makes a lot of difference about what you will and will not do.

Silence spreads throughout the gym as the head cheerleader steps up onto her podium. "First up, Amber Grove! If you're not auditioning, please leave the gym or sit down in the stands." Splits-girl makes her way to the center of the gym while everyone else moves towards the stands. As everyone gets settled, loud, repetitive music starts to play, and Theo, sitting on my left, claps his hands over his ears, but when this does't block out the noise, takes off his jacket and wraps it around his head. I guess he doesn't like this music. I can't blame him.

Amy, who had somehow reappeared and sat next to me without noticing, muttered something I didn't quite catch, but my attention was somewhat taken up by the copious amounts of smoke pouring from Amber's pompoms. "She's on fire!" I shriek, shocked. At that very moment, her hands burst into flame, and she starts screaming. Buffy quickly runs to the back of the gym to grab a banner proclaiming "Sunnydale High Cheerleading Tryouts!", but before she even had time to pull it down, Theo had already made it to her, and had wrapped his jacket around her arms, smothering the flames. He grabs the nearest girl to Amber, and asks her to take her to see a medic. He then turns, looks at us, and mouths "Library", before turning again and leaving as though nothing had happened. As soon as he left, the deathly hush that had enveloped the gym quickly dissolved into uproar: screams and shouts, murmurings and mutterings, whisperings and talkings. It looks like the occult was rearing its ugly head once more in Sunnydale


	42. Chapter 42

Buffy

So, I was about to wash my hands after an afternoon of basket ball (which my team could quite easily have won, had it not been necessary to keep my Slayer skills secret. Ooh, lots of sibilants. Sorry, Slayers are easily side-tracked.), but when I turn the tap on, instead of water coming out, it was blood. No, not red-coloured water, but blood. I know blood when I see it. And smell it, that metallic scent was something I could recognize anywhere.

Naturally, that's the kind of thing I'd tell Giles about, isn't it? After all, he is meant to have an explanation behind every supernatural phenomenon, what with him being the Library-on-legs and all.

That is what leads me, striding down the corridor with dirty hands, to the library. I push the door open gently, hoping to scare Giles, because it's one of my favourite pass-times, and creep over to his office, only to stop abruptly when I here voices talking. Well, one voice in particular, which I'd certainly never expected to hear in a conversation with Giles. Angel.

He was speaking, in his heart-meltingly deep voice "There must be some mistake. Perhaps you translated it wrong." Trust him to be talking to Giles about some old dry and dusty book that no one can understand. Giles replies, sounding on the verge of panic "I wish I were! But I've gone over this countless times, and I'm afraid there's no mistake. This is the Pergamun Codex, everything it says comes to pass. Unfortunately, there can be no doubt that tomorrow, Buffy will face the Master, and she will perish."

I begin to laugh. I don't know why, it just burst out of me, just like the hot tears streaming down my cheeks. Suddenly, it's all real. Up till now, I hadn't really thought of the Slaying as real, just as another part of my life, even with Giles constantly telling me it's my duty.

They emerge from the office, Angel tries to hug me, but I won't allow it, not now, I push him away. "Were you even goin to tell me? Or just wait until the next one turns up, hope she's a better one than me, that she can deal with it?" I ramble, trying to find a release for some of the emotion that's building inside me, before I do something rash. I don't even know who I'm talking to, or even if I'm talking to anyone. I barely even know what I'm saying, but Giles takes it upon himself to answer.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to tell you. That there was a way around it, that it wasn't real -" I cut him off before he can say anything more. "A way around it? Of course there's a way around it, there always is. Nothing is set in stone." I have to believe that. I have to. Then, all of a sudden, I have my way out. I have no idea if it'll work, but it's sure as Hell a better idea than waiting for me to die. "Well, Giles here's my way out. I quit! Go get someone else to fight evil or you!" I spin on one heel and storm away blindly, heedless of where I'm going, heedless of both Giles and Angel calling after me, heedless of all the concerned faces around me.

Giles

There are very few things in my life that have ever made me want to swear, but this definitely qualifies. Only my reputation as an unflappable Watcher prevented me from doing so - or, for that matter, breaking down and crying. For all our bickering, Buffy was like a daughter to me. I try to pull myself together, and I notice Angel trying to do the same. No doubt this is hitting him every bit as hard as it's hitting me.

The doors slam open, and at almost the same time something slams into the wall beside me. Theo had come striding in, patterns of frost spreading from where he walked, and Angel was being held against the wall by a glowing network of some kind of grey energy, leaving only his head free to move.

"What did you say to her?" Theo said in a voice that wasn't entirely his. I'd heard it described before, it being as though he was speaking with countless voices, but the reality was quite chilling. Then again, that could be the rapidly dropping temperature, which he seems to be funneling into Angel's entrapment. It's really quite fascinating, the way he seems to absorb energy and transmute it into any form he wishes.

Angel, rather understandably, doesn't answer. So it falls to me to do so, which of course I promptly do, all the while with his eyes boring into me. I'm glad that the sunglasses don't reveal his silvery eyes, because they're really offputting.

Whilst I explain, the frost steadily diminishes, and the lights that I hadn't even notice turn off once again illuminate the room. Last of all, the energy-ropes around Angel vanish, dumping him unceremoniously on the floor. Angel looks as though nothing would please him more than to knock the living day lights out of Theo, but he takes my lead and merely stands by, looking ferocious.

"Show me the book." he demanded, the many voices echoing strangely throughout the room. "Why?" I ask, surprised. "Unless you can read ancient Sumerian - oh, I'm guessing you can." I continue, whilst I fetch the book.

I bring it to him, and as soon sa he sees the title, he laughs, which is even more disturbing than his voice. "Oh, Pergamun! i remember him. He was a monk who came with us to conquer Britania, and once there became obsessed with the ramblings of some madman. We all thought both of them were crazy, but it seems not. He didn't write them in Sumerian, though..." he says, leafing through the book until he finds the page concerning Buffy's prophecy. "It has been translated. Rather badly. Giles, you are aware that there are two possible interpretations of this? One being the one you found, that she'll die and Chaos will triumph over Order, because the Master will rise. But there's a second, where admittedly she'll die, but she will rise again, and it is the Order that'll fall - the Order of Aurelius."

"That's not possible -" I interject, before being interrupted. "I assure you it is, and we must also assure Buffy of this before she does something drastic." That echoes my thoughts perfectly, (the stopping her doing something drastic part. I'm still not entirely sold on the two possible interpretations thing.) so now all we have to do is find her, and make sure it is this second interpretation that comes to pass. "How?" I ask, hoping Theo will be of yet more help.

"Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be of much help for the next few hours or so. I used up rather a lot of energy just now, and in a second I'll pass out. I'd advise you not to touch me before I wake up." and with that, he crumples onto the floor in a heap.

"What is he?" Angel asks me curiously. "He's not human. He smells like ozone, and that was like no magic I've ever seen." I reply, reluctant to say anything to Angel that Theo wouldn't want me to "I'll let him explain it to you when he wakes up


	43. Chapter 43

Buffy

Eventually, after what seemed like hours of aimless wandering amongst the streets of Sunnydale, I began to calm down. After all, there's only so much someone can take before they become numb. So I decided to make my way home - thankfully, Sunnydale is a small enough town that, even though I didn't know the area I'd wandered into, it didn't take me long to find an area I did know. Thankfully, I didn't encounter any vamps, but then again, maybe a quick Slay is exactly what I need. Therapeutic violence.

I get to my house, and notice that the lights are on, meaning Mom is home. Great, now all I'll have to do is try and convince her that leaving town for the next couple of days is a good idea. Maybe then, I won't have to die.

I didn't have to open the door, because Mom must have heard me outside, and she opened it for me. "How was your day?" she asks as she ushers me in. "Oh, normal. You know how days are." I lie smoothly. When did I get so good at lying to her? I hope that this Slayer business doesn't drive us apart more than it already has - we've always been close, even before the divorce, and I don't want that to end now.

But enough of these morbid thoughts. Or not, seeing as how I doubt they'll end - not till tomorrow anyway. Then all my thoughts will end. "Mom, what say you to going away this weekend? Just the two of us, going on a drive somewhere? Just have some mother-daughter bonding time." I ask, broaching the topic closest to my heart. Mom looks at me curiously, obviously wondering about the cause of the sudden request. "You know my gallery is open on weekends too? Anyway, isn't your school dance tomorrow?" Only in a small town would a parent actually know the date of a school event. And perhaps, in the ordinary scheme of things, she would've been right, that it was the cause of my distress.

What else could I do but nod? She grasped my hand sympathetically, asking "Didn't anyone ask you?" "Yes, they did, but-" she cuts me off, seeing into the heart of what is, unfortunately, not my principle problem. "It wasn't the right someone. You can still go anyway, you know. I went to my prom without a date."

I look at her, surprised. She'd never told me this take before. "Was it awful?" I ask, trying to make a joke of it. It seems strange to be sitting here just talking to her about such mundane things. We've both been so busy with our separate lives that we haven't made the time to be a family. She smiles faintly as she recalls "It was awful. For the first hour or so. But then, I met your father. He had a date, I didn't, but we just got to talking, then dancing, then his date slapped him for spending more time with me than her, and strode off..." she trailed off, then began again "So, all in all, it wasn't so bad. But anyway, come on!" she says, abruptly changing the subject as she pulls me upstairs.

She leads me into my room, tells me to sit on my bed and close my eyes, which of course I do. This is exactly what it used to be like on my birthdays - it wasn't enough for my parents that my presents were wrapped, oh no, I had to close my eyes while they put them into my hands, one by one, as I tried to guess what they were by feel before I opened them.

The words "You can open your eyes now." bring me out of my pleasant reverie. Once again, I obey, to behold the stunning vista of the lovely white dress I've been coveting for months, but never had the money to buy. I thought we couldn't afford it.

But that doesn't really matter. I envelop Mom in an enormous hug by way of thanks.

We had dinner together, for what felt like the first time in years. We just sat, and ate, and talked about everything that crossed our minds. Then, I went to bed, and surprisingly enough, slept. I didn't even have any nightmares, again for what felt like the first time in years.

I woke up rather earlier than usual in the morning, feeling refreshed and ready to face my death. After all, if it's fated to be, then there's not a thing I can do about it.

I head downstairs to the smell of burning pancakes. Mom was just standing, looking at the television, not even noticing the blackening food. She noticed me come in, though. "Buffy... On the news... Willow."

Theo

I slowly regained consciousness as the Sun began to dawn. However, given that I'd spent the night on the floor in a freezing room, I soon wished I hadn't. To say I ached would've been a colossal understatement.

But, unfortunately, the pounding head ache, dizziness, slight fever and the general aches and pains one gets from lying on a floor all night had a slightly more sinister cause than merely projecting vast amounts of energy in holding Angel against a wall - not that I didn't smile at the memory.

The fact is, I'd used energy I didn't have, and therefore I'd had to absorb it from whatever was available. When I do that, and project it instantly, not all of the energy is converted into the form I want it to. Some becomes radiation, and it's that that's causing these symptoms. Radiation poisoning.

Thankfully, the amount was severe enough to kill me, and at the rate I heal I should be fine in a few days, but unless I stop using my powers, I will die.

That is, unless I store vast amounts of energy for future use. Unfortunately, that's difficult to do in a small town like Sunnydale, at least without causing power cuts everywhere. In fact, if I'm not going to cause any, that means I'll have to find a large scale natural resource - like a volcano. Looks like I'll be spending the next couple of months in Hawaii.

Then, I became aware of a bundle of emotions in the back of my head that certainly weren't mine. I knew who's they were, but I didn't know how somehow Willow's emotions were in my head. I'd noticed they were there a few days ago, but until now, they'd been normal, run-of-the-mill. Now, though, she was terrified, and I had no idea why. After all, I'm not a mind reader. At least, not yet. Maybe I will be later.

I resolved to find her, which would be no easy task, given that I had no idea where she might be. Then again, I thought to myself as I began to search, maybe it wouldn't be so hard. After all, I'm sure if I follow the trail of police people, they'll lead me to her. Surely, even on a hell mouth town, there can only be so many things going on at once.

Fairly soon, I'm stopped by a rather burly policeman, who tells me in a gruff tone to come no further. "I'm looking for Willow, Willow Rosenberg. Is she here?" I ask, trying to stay calm. I don't think Willow's hurt, but whatever's going on here has seriously unnerved her, and, even though I don't know what's going on, it's not hard to see why. "Are you family?" he asks brusquely. I shake my head briefly "Boyfriend." It might not, strictly speaking, be true, but I'm sure as hell not going to leave her alone with only policemen around her.

Fortunately, the policeman decides that that is sufficient grounds for letting me through. He gestures for me to go under the cordon, and he escorts me to a room, containing one very distraught Willow. After telling me not to leave the room, he leaves us alone together.

I sit next to her. I don't say anything, I just wait until she's ready to talk, which, judging by the way she's buried her face on my shoulder and is proceeding to drench it with tears, may not be some time. So I just wrap one arm around her, and slowly stroke her hair with the other.

Eventually, her shuddering sobs come to a halt, and she looks up at me and smiles weakly, and I can sense, amongst all the turmoil of her emotions, a sense of safety. Then she nestles her head into my (still sadly wet) shoulder and begins to talk. It's not very coherent, but she said "I came here with Cordy to pick up the sound system - her friend was meant to take it to the Bronze, but didn't - she's gone home now, her dad came and shouted at people until they let her leave - they were dead, her friends, dead and mutilated in the room, it was horrible - they had fun. I go into that room everyday, but suddenly it wasn't our world anymore. They took it away from us - took them away from us - and they had fun doing it."

I didn't say anything. What was there that I could say? So I just sat there and held her until the burly policeman returned and told us that we could go.

Thankfully, there weren't hordes of people waiting to ask questions. But what there was was a small blonde figure, arguing with yet another policeman about being able to get in to see her friend - an argument which she promptly broke of when she saw us, with my arm wrapped around Willow's shoulders. She didn't immediately ask what happened - I guess she'd already heard - which was something that both of us were grateful for. She just walked outside with us, constantly glancing at Willow to make sure she's alright.

Strangely, I felt something, besides the lingering headache and the constant wrongness the hellmouth had been giving of recently (hence the sunglasses.) I didn't recognize it instantly, because I'd never felt it before in this body, but I felt tired. For once, I felt like I needed sleep, which was odd, given that I'd only woken up (if one can call regaining consciousness waking up) a few hours ago.

Which really didn't explain why I could see the sun setting over the horizon. Surely we hadn't spent that long in that room? I realize that we must have, and I must have lost track of time. How strange.

But that means that the time when Buffy has to die facing the Master is coming steadily closer. As loath as I am to stir up more problems for Willow, I do need to tell Buffy about what I found. But I will not talk to Buffy about her death while Willow is like this, so I walk her home, Buffy alongside. I'll talk to her afterwards.

I just hope I have the time


	44. Chapter 44

Buffy

It wasn't long before we reached Willow's house, and we hadn't spoken a word to each other throughout the entire journey. Understandably enough, Willow was in shock, and there wasn't anything that needed to be said beyond the fact that we were here, and we were here for her.

We waited patiently as she fumbled around for her key. When she found it and invited us to come in (although I get the feeling it was more directed at Theo than at me) Theo said, softly "Do mind if I come in in a couple of minutes, I need to talk to Buffy about something first." although obviously reluctant, she acquiesces, and heads slowly inside, mumbling something about making tea.

Which leaves us alone. "Buffy, the prophecy-" he begins, just as I knew he would. What else could possibly pry him away from Willow? "Yeah yeah, destiny and fate and all that jazz. Well it can all just go screw itself." I say, cutting him off and turning to leave. I don't need this. But he grabs my arm and says "Will you just listen for a minute! There are two ways it can go. Reluctantly, which means that he'll rise, you'll die and the hell mouth will open, or willingly, in which case he kills you, yet he gets defeated and the world is saved. Think about it." He turns to go back inside, but now it's my turn to grab his arm and stop him.

"But I'll still die, right?" I ask, perhaps a little plaintively. "That's what the prophecy says. But bear in mind, prophecies aren't always right." With that, he turns and goes into the house, slightly too fast for me to catch him - not that I would've tried. He was right, it was something to think about.

As a Slayer, I had made a difference. I have saved peoples lives. So, now, when many, many more lives are at stake, what right do I have to deny their chance at life? If I die to save countless other lives, that has to be the right decision.

Doesnt't it? It has to be, because that's the decision I'm making. I close the door to Willow's house, essentially closing of the last way out I had. Now, I must go to Giles. We parted on bad terms, and, if I am to die, I will not have it end that way.

But first, I'm going to put on that dress Mom bought me. If I'm going to die, then I'm at least going to look pretty. Besides, it would be a shame to leave such a lovely dress unworn. Mom should be at work, so there shouldn't be any obstacle getting it.

"...she won't be going. Because I will." I hear some time later, coming from the area of Giles' office. I'm almost scared to go in, because the last time Giles was talking in there, I found out I had a death sentence. But I have to go in, and I settle for the traditional Buffy dramatic entrance. "I don't think so, Giles. I'll be going after all." I state, with surprising calmness, as I throw open the doors.

The person with him is Ms. Calendar, which is something I hadn't expected, but that doesn't derail me. "You can't, Buffy. You'll die, and I can't - won't - let that happen." he responds, just as calmly despite knowing that he is merely going in my place to his death. "Giles, if I don't go, hundreds of others will die. Perhaps more. That, I will not allow." Gods, now I sound like one of those overly melodramatic characters in those movies that Xander loves so much!

"Then I'm coming with you." he says, hefting a large axe which I'm sure I'd never seen before with surprising ease. "There's nothing I can say that'll change your mind." I state, rather than ask. I already know the answer, given the hard, determined look on his face - and the fact he's got his glasses off, which always means he means business. So, I'm not surprised when he shakes his head.

But I bet he was surprised when I hit him, knocking him unconscious with a single blow. There may not be anything I can say that'll stop him coming, but that is something I can do. When in doubt, resort to violence. Calendar, who had been silent and unmoving up to this point, rushes over and crouches by him, checking he's alright. Fortunatley, she doesn't question my actions, proving just how cool a teacher she is.

"Tell him... tell him something cool, tell him I said it." I say, before turning on my heel and leaving.

The sun has finally set, after what seemed like ages of merely hanging on the horizon. That means it's time. Soon, the Anointed One, whoever, it really is, will take me down into the Master's lair. What'll happen then, I think, checking my crossbow, is anyone's guess.

A little boy appears as if by magic, looking at me all big-eyed and pleading. If it weren't for the fact that my Slayer senses are tingling, I'd've thought he was exactly what he looks like. But evidently, he isn't. I never expected the Anointed One to be so short! He opens his mouth as though to say something, but I forestall what will almost certainly be a lie. "I know who you are. Lead on." he holds his hand out to me, but, although he may be leading me to certain death, it's going a little far to expect me to go hand-in-hand with a vampire.

After a moment, he drops his hand and looks at me sadly, before turning away and heading into a patch of shadow nearby. One of the many tunnel entrances that riddle Sunnydale. The descent begins.

Theo

I found Willow at the back of her house, cradling an untouched cup of tea and gazing into her garden with eyes that certainly don't see it. She doesn't seem to hear me come in, so I just stand there, looking at her. She seems at peace now, and though what she's seen today will almost certainly give her nightmares, I think she's more or less alright now.

"Why are you still here?" she says. There's no inflection to her voice, no curiosity. She doesn't turn around either. I find myself saying "You know, love" the endearment slips out so easily, but when her back stiffens, and she's suddenly tense, I wish it hadn't. Nevertheless, I forge on. "to get past those policemen, to get in to see you, I told them I was your boyfriend." Now she turns, staring at me with wide eyes, and my heart thumps painfully. When did she get so close? When I came in, she'd been at the other end of the room, but now it seems as though she's within arms reach. I'm sure neither of us have moved...

But these wild, tumultuous thoughts don't stop her from staring at me, eyes filled with an expression that I can't read. Even with our strange bond, I can't tell what she's feeling - it's alien to me.

"So I was wondering, I know I've asked you to one date, but that hasn't really worked out, so, anyway, yes, what I wanted to say was..." I stutter, before trailing off at the smile curving her lips, the twinkle in her eye, and the emotion I feel in the back of my head.

"Yes." she says, grabbing my hand "A thousand times yes." then she frowns, peering at my hand, then stretching up to touch my forehead. "You're burning up!". Damned radiation poisoning, damned hell mouth making everything worse, ruining a perfect moment. "Your parents aren't in, are they?" I ask, changing the subject, she shakes her head, looking as though she was about to say something else, but I carry on "Good! Now, tell me, if there was a power cut, would you mind?". Now she looks completely bemused, but she still shakes her head.

"Fantastic!" I say, before pulling in all the energy in the house. Now, everything electrical has stopped, and anyone trying to run a bath would be in for a nasty surprise when it's freezing cold. A few magnets drop of the fridge, suddenly beholden to the power of gravity as their magnetism is fed to me. Oh, but it feels wonderful, to be able to take this all! I really must hurry up and buy a house so I can do this more often.

It's clear that Willow has more questions, but I don't want to answer them right now. I just want to sit here, with her, and watch the moon rise.

Xander

Do ghosts exist? Because I'm sure I'm being haunted. After all, lights flicking on and off and seeing a shadow where no shadow should be sounds pretty ghostly to me. It's ruining my night of listening to country music, and slowly dying inside. Not that I mind that, exactly. So, quite naturally, and not without a hint of trepidation in case I encounter someone who would expect me to be at the Spring Fling, I head over to the library to see Giles (it never occurs to me that he won't be there, because he always is. He probably lives there.)

Of course, the sudden shower of pebbles on the way there only compounded my idea that something strange is going on, because it's hardly a usual occurence - especially given that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Something weird is definitely going on, but Giles is the expert on weird, so it should all work out.

Unfortunately, any ideas I might have had that there was any possibility that this was just your ordinary run-of-the-mill odd (if such a thing exists) was quickly dissolved by the sight of Giles nursing the most spectacular bruise on his jaw that I have ever seen, and being fussed over by, of all people, that Comp. Tech. teacher Ms. Calendar. I very much doubt that he was punched by a rogue book. So, naturally, I ask what's going on. Giles, in a very, very tired voice, regales me with a tale of apocalypses, vampires, the Master, the hell mouth, prophecies - and Buffy dying.

"You just let her go!" I rage when he'd finished the story. I felt bad as soon as I said it - the bruise on his face attests to the fact that he didn't - but if she dies... "We've got to find her." I exclaim. "If I knew where she was, don't you think that I'd be there now?" he says, reasonably, but I can see that he's finding this as hard as I am.

Suddenly, a thought comes to me, one that'll probably be the only chance we have to avert this prophecy. I struggle not to think as I turn and leave wordlessly, mechanically counting my steps to help eliminate any stray thoughts. I cannot contemplate a world without Buffy in it.

Fairly soon, I'm at the door that is the object of walk, and I knock upon it. Moments later, the very creature I want to see opens it. "It's you." says Angel blandly.

Buffy

The flickering light of hundreds of candles was the first hint that I had arrived in the cave in which the Master has been trapped for centuries. The second was the overwhelming sense of evil - well, that and the fact that the little child (still can't quite grasp that he's the Anointed One) has vanished.

I wasn't expecting the cave to be empty, though. Surely he couldn't have broken out already? However, a nasal voice, that fills the cae with echoes which make it impossiible to pinpoint his location, soon forces me to dismiss that idea.

"So you're the Slayer. I have to admit, I thought you'd be taller. You won't be much of a meal, will you?". I tune out his words, trying to focus only on his location. If I can find him, I can shoot him. I won't even have to get close.

Unlike his words, his footsteps behind me do give away his presence, I spin on my heels and fire the crossbow, the bolt flying straight and true for the apparition that seemed to have come directly out of a nightmare - as indeed it had. Mine. This is exactly as I dreamt he would appear.

Unfortunately, he's fast, far faster than the newly risen vampires which are the only things I've ever shot with a crossbow. He snatches the bolt out of the air and breaks it with a twist of his fingers, sneering at my pathetic failed attempt.

"Now now dear, that wasn't very professional, was it?" he certainly likes the sound of his own voice - not that I'm paying any attention to it. I'm too caught up in those hypnotic eyes... to my horror, I find my feet involuntarily walking me towards him, and my arms seem incapable of moving.

I don't feel afraid as hs teeth sink into my neck. I can't feel my blood feeding him. Just an incapacitating numbness. I couldn't feel him shove me roughly into a pool. But I could hear him say "I like your dress" before the welcome darkness closes over me


	45. Chapter 45

Xander

Angel slammed the door in my face. I guess that's hardly surprising, we've never gotten on well. But you'd at least think that he'd wonder why I, of all people, would be at his door.

Knowing that his vampiric hearing will pick up what I'm saying, I say at normal volume "Buffy's gone to face the Master. She's going to die, unless we do something to stop it. And you're the only one I know that can help me find her."

Moments later, Angel comes barreling out, almost knocking me over in his haste, calling over his shoulder for me to follow him. Something that, for once, I'm all too happy to do.

I'd thought that Angel would lead me to some kind of sewer entrance, so I was rather surprised when he strode up the driveway to a house and knocked on the door. I was even more surprised when I realized that the house was Willow's, but I was rather beyond being surprised when it was Theo who opened the door, looking at us curiously.

"Where's Willow?" I blurt out before either of them can say anything. It's not that I don't trust Theo, he did save Willow's life, it's just... it's Willow. "She's asleep. And it would be nice if you didn't wake her up, she's had a hard day." Pah, as if the person she's got a crush on is going to her death. Although I probably would've said more (not that I have a clue what I might've said) Angel forestalled me. "Buffy's gone to fight the Master. I get the feeling that you might be able to hold your own in a fight..." Theo smiles ruefully at that. I wonder what went on between them? "... so, you going to come save the Slayer's life?"

Theo shrugs, saying "Sure, I've got nothing better to do." and comes out with us, quietly shutting the door behind him. However, shortly after he has done so, he looks back at the closed door and mutters something so quietly that I barely catch it. In fact, I'm not even sure I did, because it sounded like he said "Damn!", and there's no reason to say that, at least not yet.

"What?" asks Angel. Perhaps he heard it correctly, with his super-hearing and all. Theo just shakes his head, saying "Nothing you'd understand." and then gestures for Angel to lead the way. It looks as though we are finally on our way. I just hope we're not too late.

Some time later, after we'd finally gotten into the sewers, and I'd stubbed my toe on a rock I hadn't even seen for about the fifteenth time, I cursed. Theo, from behind me, says "What?" in a bored tone. "Strangely enough, the small amount of light that filters down here really isn't sufficient to stop me bumbling into things. I don't have Dead-boy's eyesight. Or yours, for that matter." I add as an afterthought, because it's entirely possible he can see just fine.

"You should've said something earlier." he said, as the air around us began to glow faintly, giving off just enough light for me not to walk into the suddenly stationary Angel. "What are you? Because that's like no magic I've ever seen, and you sure don't smell human." Dead-boy asks, glaring behind me. Well, I suppose he meant to glare, but his face is too immobile for that. I turn as well, because anything is better than looking at Dead-boy. Theo cocked his head on one side, asking in a disinterested tone "I don't smell human? What do I smell like then?" Angel, evidently none too pleased by the obvious avoidance of his question, replies shortly "Ozone".

"Well now, isn't that interesting." Theo says, in a way that certainly makes it sound like he's lying. What's up with him, ever since we left Willow's house it's like he hasn't cared about anything. "And in response to your earlier question, I used to be a warlock, until I got possessed by an Ethros demon. It got exorcised, but not before it killed my parents - which is why I'm here, Giles is my closest relative - and since then, my magic hasn't quite been working the same way."

Presumably Angel accepted the story, because when I looked back I saw he'd begun to move on ahead. I wonder if that story was true? It's certainly not that elaborate theory Giles had concocted. Perhaps he just wanted to lie to Angel, an impulse that I fully understand. After all, he is a vampire, and by extension untrustworthy.

Nevertheless, it looks like he knows where he's going, and if we are to save Buffy, then our only chance is to follow him. Fortunately, the faintly glowing air (I wonder how Theo does that?) means I no longer have to fumble around half blind. Although I certainly feel as though I've been in these tunnels far too long for comfort. I'm so glad I'm not claustrophobic! I wonder if it's possible to become so...

A change in the quality of the light alerts me to the fact that we may be nearing our destination - that, and Angel suddenly letting out a cry and rushing forward into the suddenly spacious cave. And when I see the cause, I can't help but follow suit.

Lying face down in a pool of water, red blood spiraling out to stain the water a vivid crimson, lies Buffy. It seems we were too late after all.

Although Angel doesn't seem to think so, because he hauls her out of the water, and begins pounding on her chest. As he does so, his voice filled with both hope and anguish, he cries "Someone, do CPR! She drowned - there's still a chance we can save her!" normally, I'd say the wound in her neck, the one that was still oozing blood, was the cause of death, not drowning, but hey, maybe he's right, maybe she can be saved. I've got to have hope! I ignore the little voice at the back of my head that tells me that this is the only chance I'll ever get to kiss her, because that's just creepy. Buffy's the one who's so fond of dead people, not me.

About a minute later, after no success and finding that my lungs ache (which I didn't even know they could) a hand grips my shoulder, and I look up into the strangely blurry face of Theo. it takes me a moment to realise that that's because I'm crying, tears silently streaming down my cheeks. Angel's crouched by her side, holding her hand. She can't be dead! She can't be!

"You might want to move away" says Theo, softly. "You too, Angel." Angel just nods dumbly and does as he's told, evidently in shock. But I won't leave her. Any moment now, she'll start breathing. She'll smile again...

"Well, suit yourself." says Theo, as he crouches by the body (no, not the body. She's alive. He crouched by Buffy). He puts his hand over chest, and suddenly her back arches, before crashing back down again. And I had the worst electric shock of my life, I felt as though my muscles had been set on fire. Thrown back, it takes me a moment before I realize that he's trying to jump start her heart.

Again, her back arches. No result. Again. Again. Then, so suddenly I felt as though my heart had stopped, she coughed, spraying water everywhere. Both Angel and I am by her side in an instant. She's alive!

Willow, some time earlier.

I was woken by voices, voices outside my house. I'm normally a very light sleeper, any little noise wakes me up. At least I think it was the voices. It could have been that odd sensation that there was something dark, pulsing away in the distance, calling to me, calling the forces of darkness to it. But I'm not evil, so why should it call to me?

I didn't quite catch what the voices said, although I did recognise their owners: Xander, Theo and Angel. Judging by the sense of urgency in Xander's and Angel's voices, something important is going to happen. I can feel it too.

However, I think to myself as my front door closes quietly, the only person who'll have any clue about what's going on is Giles. Which means I must get to the library, because I'm certainly not going to wait out whatever's going on in my house, and Giles doesn't quite understand phones yet.

I get out of bed (how had I gotten there? I thought I'd been in the living room...) and find myself already dressed (oh, Theo must've brought me up here after I fell asleep.) and so it only takes me a few minutes before I'm up and out of the door, ready to save the world. Or Sunnydale, or someone's life. I really don't know what's going on here.

Although I'm guessing that the large groups of vampires milling around know what's happening. How unfair, a bunch of dead guys are more clued in than I am. The closer I get to the library, the more clusters of vampires I see. And all of them are heading in the same direction as me - to the library. So it looks like whatever's going to happen is going to happen there. I've got to warn Giles!

Unfortunately, this realisation came with a gasp, causing the nearby vampires to whip their heads around towards me, snarling as they stalk like predators towards me. That is, until there's the squeal of braking car wheels, and a car comes skidding out of nowhere to slam into the vampires, knocking them everywhere like skittles. The passenger door of the car opens, and Cordelia, of all people, yells "Get in!"

Which, of course, I'm only too glad to do. As soon as I do so, she's off, mercifully going towards the library. "What're you doing out here?" I ask, trying to make myself heard over the squealing tyres. She's really not the best driver. "You know those boys we found dead earlier?" she responds, sounding a little odd. "Well, one of them was my boyfriend." "Oh. I'm sorry." I respond. What else could I say?

Thankfully, she breaches the suddenly awkward silence with the perfectly reasonable question "What are these things." I sigh, ready to make myself seem insane. "Did you ever wonder why the leading cause of death in Sunnydale was people impaling their necks on barbecue forks? Those guys out there with wrinkly faces, yellow eyes and fangs are the answer. They're vampires." I brace myself for the oncoming tirade about my sanity, but she only nods and says "Okay. That actually explains a lot."

"We need to get to the library." I say as we pass by the school. Her face splits into a maniacal grin as she spins the car around to crash through the school doors, driving at an insane speed through the corridors, scattering vampires as she goes. She pulls up just outside the library door, and we get out, hoping Giles will be able to tell us what's going on. "Although, we normally walk there..." I say in a conversational tone, trailing off as I open the door to hell.

Theo

So, Buffy's alive again, and that's great and all, but that's hardly going to be useful unless she goes and Slays the Master. Hopefully she'll be better at it this time around.

Nevertheless, my work here is done, and going by the sudden increase in hellmouth energy being released, I'm needed elsewhere. So, without bothering to intrude on the happy reunion of Slayer and her fan club, I leave.

Unfortunately, the sheer amount of vampires milling around, slowly making their way towards the hellmouth, means that I can't just walk there. I'd get bogged down almost instantly. Fortunately, I remember spending several lifetimes as an assassin, and am therefore at home on rooftops. It was the work of a moment to shimmy up a nearby gutter pipe.

From my much higher vantage point, I can see the vampires' destination far more clearly. Strangely enough, it doesn't really surprise me that they're going towards the library.

Buffy

Isn't it strange that it's easier to wake up from bring dead than it is to wake up normally? I feel full of energy, despite being sopping wet and the dull ache from the bite to my neck. I also feel infinitely more confident, despite the fact that he's already killed me once, that I can Slay the Master.

I get up, filled with a strange awareness of where he's gone. I almost don't notice Angel and Xander urging me to take it easy. "No, I don't need to. I feel fine. I feel great." I don't tell them that I feel different. I'm not sure how I am, exactly, but I feel clearer. More focused. Harder. It's difficult to explain.

I also can't explain why I know where he's going. Perhaps being killed by someone creates a link between you and them? At this point, nothing would surprise me. And so, with my groupies in tow, making sure that I actually am alright, we make our way, not to the library, but to the building that overlooks it, slaying any vampires that stand in our way.

Willow

Perhaps calling it "hell" is a little over the top. At the other entrance to the library, the one that leads directly outside, Ms. Calendar of all people was frantically rebuilding a barricade of books and bookshelves that was constantly on the verge of toppling over due to the concerted efforts of vampires on the outside trying to force their way in. And Giles was standing in front of a strange, misty area in the centre of the library, sweat streaming down his face as he chants from a book.

It's that distorted area that is the source of whatever's calling the vampires, I can feel it, and I'm guessing that if it weren't for Giles doing whatever he's doing to try and stop it, it would be far worse. However, I can somehow tell that it's still only a matter of time before it forces its way open, and then all hell will break loose. Literally.

It's that thought, as Cordelia and I head over to help with the barricade, that leads me to realise what it is. It's the hellmouth, which, as far as I know, means the Master must've broken free. Which is very bad.

Giles spell failed. I could sense it, before I even turned around. The mist was slowly congealing, darkening in colour as it begins to form something. The vampires at the door, I realise, are only there to stop us getting out. So, we're trapped.

Fortunately for us, the mist seems in no hurry to become anything. And judging by the sounds outside, and the sudden lessening of activity, the vampires were having some kind of fight amongst themselves. Perhaps we weren't going to die today after all!

Suddenly, in lieu of the vampires struggling at the door, there was a knock. "Who's there?" I couldn't resist asking. "Twit." replied a voice I recognized "Twit who?" I finish the age old joke, before bursting into peals of laughter. Knowing that everyone in the room was watching me strangely only made it more difficult to stop.

"Is anyone going to open this door?" came the voice, a little impatiently. When no one responds, grey tendrils creep through the door, shoving books aside, and Theo strolls in, revealing about five unconscious vampires outside. I guess just because you can't kill something doesn't mean that you can't knock them silly.

"Damn." he says, looking at the patch on the floor that now resembles a very large, floating ink blot. "I guess Buffy hasn't gotten around to killing the Master yet then." he finishes. Giles looks at him, saying "You mean she's not dead? But I thought..." what's going on here? Buffy dead? What've I missed? Theo whispers to me, as though reading my thoughts, "Don't worry, I'll explain later." before addressing Giles question. "Yes, she died, but she got better." I can see Giles aching to ask more, but is distracted by the glass rooof breaking and a body hurtling by.

Buffy

I gave Angel and Xander the slip. It was surprisingly easy. Now, it's just me and the Master. Again.

I see him, chuckling to himself as he looks down into the library. "Hey, Bat-face man!" I jibe, enjoying the shocked look on his face as he whirls around. It quickly changes into his permanent sneer. "You're dead." he states, with a fine grasp of the obvious. "Yeah, but I got better. And, unlike you, I'm still pretty."

He twists his hands, trying to do his hypnotizing mojo. Surprisingly unaffected this time, I go along with it in order to get close to him. After all, I can't stake him from all the way over here, can I? Feigning being in a trancelike state, I move slowly closer to him, avoiding looking at his face so I don't burst out a grin over what I'm about to do to him.

Finally, when I'm within range of his arms, and he's leaning in to bite me again, I whip up my arm, stake sliding out of my sleeve, into my hand and into his heart, just as I kick him backwards, over the edge of the building, to go crashing through the glass roof.

I remember what the prophecy had said. "Order shall fall." Well, the leader of the Order of Aurelius had done just that.

_And so we come to end of Energy, Volume One of the Grey Man sequence. If you don't understand why it's called the Grey Man sequence, then it will all be made clear later on._

_I hope that everyone has enjoyed this book, and feel free to tell me if there are any things that you want clarified._

_I'm sorry for the appalling knock-knock joke, but I just couldn't resist._

_Any spelling mistakes or uploading errors are purely accidental, unless caused by gremlins. Please tell me if you see any (errors, not gremlins. Although I'd like to see them too)._

_Oh, and because everyone seems to put it somewhere: I do not own any part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise, nor its offshoot Angel. The only thing I own is the character Theo, who is himself a compilation of other characters - see if you can guess which ones._

_Look out for the sequel, "Madness" (So named because everyone goes at least a little mad at least once.) which I will begin writing shortly._

_So, until the next time, Adieu_


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